A freshly completed mural in downtown Vancouver illuminates a garbage building across from City Hall and provides a new eye-catcher for a district that is already being attacked by city guides in a major renaming.
“Groovin ‘& Couv’n,” proclaims the piece in splashes of blue, purple, mustard and crimson, with an artist rendering of the Interstate 5 Bridge and a pair of bicycle legs.
The mural is located outside of The Aria, a new six-story luxury apartment building that also serves as the headquarters of LSW Architects.
Artists from Riff Creative Studio, a design offshoot of LSW Architects, designed and painted the mural. According to Riff designer Corinna Scott, the piece was commissioned by David Copenhaver, president of Aria developer Cascadia Development Partners.
The mural is located on the northern edge of Vancouver’s Waterfront Gateway property, a triangular 6.4 acre property owned by the city. The northeast corner is home to City Hall, the Hilton Vancouver Washington, and the historic Webber Building; the rest are parking spaces and open fields.
City planners aim to modernize the property. It’s full of possibilities; The location, strategically located between Esther Short Park and The Waterfront Vancouver, could make for a pedestrian-friendly city center. Vancouver’s City Center Redevelopment Authority is soliciting proposals from property developers and will continue to do so through the end of June.
John Collum, the city’s chief economic development planner, told The Columbian earlier this month that 28 developers and 14 design firms have already expressed an interest in the project.
“We are open to all possibilities,” said Collum.
In an internal email with staff from the city and the Vancouver Downtown Association, Collum added that he plans to include photos of the mural in a pre-submission presentation of the Waterfront Gateway project later this week to signal that the colorful piece as part of a rebranding effort.
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