INDEX

http://moneytowers.blogspot.ca/2009/08/index-page.html

Marine Gateway: Monsters or Stumps?

The attempt of a taller residential tower accompanied with an office stump instead of an office tower.

http://marinegateway.com/2012/10/05/marine-gateway-purchaser-update
The office building should have been at least 40 stories & the main residential tower at least 50 or even 60 stories.
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2010/04/marine-drive-gateway-projectupdate
Due to its proximity to the airport, the office tower should have been even 50 stories.
http://marinegateway.com/2013/02/12/vancouver-sun-transit-innovation-and-leed-buildings-the-urban-office-market-heats-up,
http://www.biv.com/article/20120814/BIV0119/308149939/-1/BIV/twelve-malls-in-retail-renaissance
However, having a 1,000,000+ sq ft tower next to train stations designed to only handle 3 car units is ridicules  The Montreal Metro was designed to have stations long enough to accommodate not only 3, but 6 & even 9 car trains. There has always been an agenda to keep Vancouver at a smaller scale than what most cities embrace. The result it not only smaller buildings (stumps), roads & bridges, but even a train system with short stations. Montreal was wise enough to plan for 500 foot long stations, Toronto its 600 & San Francisco is 700 feet. That's long enough to accommodate a 10 car BART train.
Auckland, NZ & Sydney each have an 8 lane harbor bridge & SF has a 10 lane Bay Bridge.

Its always amazing to see how small things are in BC. Toronto hasn't gobble up Ontario, its still just a blip on the map. Sydney has engulfed NSW, NYC remains just a small part of the State of NY. Even the vast sprawling Chicago hasn't been able to urbanize most of Illinois.
 BC can contain about 23 Switzerlands & so far its been difficult just to match the population of one. Alberta can boast about having 2 cities over a million people, while most of Alberta remains free from urban development.

California still has more people than Canada & Texas has more people than Australia. The 3 largest urban areas in California & Texas still haven't fully urbanized each state. As cities become more densely populated & developed, much of the rural lands remain free of urban sprawl.

Vancouver & BC have a lot of potential, but so far things are continually kept at a small scale. http://moneytowers.blogspot.ca/2013/03/v-bc-city-of-limitations-and.html

Oakridge Mall and Monster Buildings?

These aren't monstrous buildings.
https://www.placespeak.com/topic/525-oakridge-centre-virtual-open-house
Well, by BC standards they are.
http://www.retail-insider.com/2012/10/vancouvers-oakridge-centre-to-get.html,

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2012/10/oakridge-centre-redevelopment-plans-revealed
This area has the potential to become a dense residential tower cluster with some office towers as well.
http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/oakridge-redevelopment.aspx
This mall should have already been up to a 1,000,000 sq ft decades ago & by now at least 2,000,000 sq ft. http://www.vancouversun.com/business/commercial-real-estate/Oakridge+Centre+redevelopment+plan+sent+public+comment/6990118/story.html

However, unlike Montreal with the option to have 3, 6 & even 9 car trains, the Vancouver-Richmond line has stations that can only accommodate 3 car trains max. Although its called, the Canada Line, its hardly up to the big Canadian standard of the Toronto Subway or the Montreal Metro.
http://pricetags.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/canada-line-undersized

http://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/oakridge-rezoning-45-storey-tower
Unlike most cities, its been very difficult for many people to ever fully accept Vancouver having large scale engineering  That's why the buildings, trains bridges & roads are half the size of what many cities permit.
http://pricetags.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/city-as-workout-the-oakridge-proposal

If ever the Oakridge Mall area becomes as big as Metrotown, that would certainly become a major focal point between Richmond & Downtown Vancouver.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=5908670
By now, Metrotown should have been at least half or even 75% of the size of the W. Edmonton Mall.