Rize announced today its role as a Champion Challenger Brand alongside a small group of companies, individuals and non-profits who are seeding the Community Response Fund as part of the “In Our Hearts” campaign. The fund was created by the Vancouver Foundation along with Vancity, United Way Lower Mainland and the City of Vancouver to provide rapid relief and build long-term resiliency among communities and organizations hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to its seed donation, Rize is challenging its staff, partners, consultants, trade suppliers and friends to donate and will match donations up to a total of $25,000.

“A vibrant city includes everyone. This pandemic has stretched the already stressed systems that look after our city’s most vulnerable and has hit hard the people and organizations that give our city its distinct character,” says Steven Cox, VP Brand & Design at Rize. “The Community Response Fund provides immediate relief to organizations struggling during this pandemic as well as long-term support to enable organizations to recover and thrive moving forward.”

Since its launch on March 18, the Community Response Fund has provided operating support to dozens of charities that are helping individuals and communities impacted by COVID-19. The fund has now been expanded to include arts, culture and other community programming that are not considered frontline human services — but that are just as important to the social fabric that ties our community together.

“As the earliest champion of the In Our Hearts campaign, Rize has stepped up to support our community in an inspiring way,” said Kevin McCort, CEO of Vancouver Foundation. “And by calling on others in the development industry to do the same, Rize exemplifies the very best of caring and commitment.”

“During this time, many of us are asking how we can help,” continued Will Lin, CEO of Rize. “We felt compelled to donate, but more than that, we want to use this opportunity to spur on a broader generosity within our community and shine a light on many of the smaller organizations that are desperately in need of additional resources to continue making a difference in our city.”

For more information or to donate to the fund visit vancouverfoundation.ca/covid19.

For more information about how to participate in the In Our Hearts campaign, visit:

www.vancouverfoundation.ca/whats-new/in-our-hearts

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Real estate development company Rize Alliance Properties received approval from Surrey City Council for their one million square feet mixed-use development in Surrey City Centre. The Passages, is designed by UK Architect Alison Brooks Architects.

The project site is in the heart of the emerging Surrey City Centre, where there is a drive towards a high-density, transit-orientated and walkable downtown core. The project was designed to provide free-flowing public space with four landscaped courtyards and multiple pedestrian connections throughout the site into the surrounding neighbourhood.

The Passages consists of three high-rise residential towers (22-storey, 31-storey and 39-storey), two 13-storey mid-rise market rental residential towers, one 6-storey apartment building and ground-level retail spaces including a café and daycare.

There project aspires to create an exceptional urban condition by focussing on freedom of movement and public space accessed by a series of passages, leading to an open courtyard at its centre. This is an atypical urban

strategy in North America, where dense city blocks are often enclosed by podiums. Conversely, the urban design of The Passages is a plan with an activated heart, bringing movement through the site and offering a wide range of activities for residents and neighbours to use and enjoy. An amenity for the city.

There are three building typologies proposed across the site: Tower, mid-rise and low-rise. The variety of typologies and scale contribute to the unique character of the development with façade variety, texture and family structures. The development will add 954 market residential units; 172 market rental residential units and a total of 1,683 square metres (18,116 sq.ft.) of commercial space. 40% of the rental will be family-oriented with a 4,400 sq.ft on-site childcare and 70,000 sq.ft of public outdoor space.

Project Data

Site Area                            16.466 sqm (177,238 sq ft)
GFA                                     89,943 sqm (968,143 sq ft)
Max Height/Storeys         119.85 ft. (39 Storeys)
Units                                   1126 Homes
Amenity                              2,738 sqm (29,467 sq ft)
Including                            Gym, co-working, sky-bar, media lounge, bike workshop, dog wash
Retail/Commercial            1,707 sqm (18,379 sq ft)
Public Outdoor Amenity   6,466 sqm (69,600 sq ft)

Project Team

Developer                           Rize Alliance Properties
Lead Architect                   Alison Brooks Architects
Architect of Record           IBI Group

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Vancouver, BC; December 10, 2019 – Today, Rize Alliance is celebrating the launch of the Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen (MPCAS). The MPCAS is a four-by-seven metre outdoor urban screen located on the second-storey facade of Rize’s new development, The Independent, at Broadway and Kingsway in Vancouver.

“We’re proud to have worked with the grunt gallery to bring this project to the Mount Pleasant community,” said Steven Cox, Head of Creative, Rize Alliance. “As a developer committed to building meaningful and inspiring places to live and work, the addition of this innovative piece of public artwork to The Independent makes perfect sense.”

The screen will exclusively feature visual works of art for and about the people who live, work and pass through the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.

Located on The Independent residential tower, the Rize Alliance funded screen will display a rotating mix of locally produced art

“Working across the development/artist divide is never easy but we realize that the only way we are going to solve the mounting housing problems in the art community is to reach across the divide,” said Glenn Alteen, Director, grunt gallery. “I hope projects like this one represent positive steps in that direction.”

The funding for the $538,000 MPCAS was provided by the developers, Rize-Ayalaland, as part of their community amenity contribution. Rize-Ayalaland also provided an additional $4.5 million in community amenity contributions to support arts organizations in Mount Pleasant and Vancouver. This includes providing $2.3 million to C-Space & VIVO Media Arts, $1.5 million to Western Front, $400,000 to grunt gallery, and $300,000 to Arts Factory.

The Independent comprises 258 residential units as well as retail frontages along Kingsway, Broadway and Watson Street.

Artists interested in having their work appear on the screen are invited to apply via mpcas.ca.

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