Visitors to Saturday’s grand opening of the Vancouver Waterfront Park and Grant Street Pier will undoubtedly stop to look at buildings that are under construction.
And at the site for the Hotel Indigo and the adjacent condominium building — The Residences at Kirkland Tower — visitors may notice pools of water in two corners of the excavated site.
The water is normal and expected, officials said, as the early construction process resembles that for building supporting piers for a river-spanning bridge. A cofferdam is being used because of the nearby Columbia River.
Earlier this year, construction crews drove 57-foot-long corrugated steel panels into the earth. The panels will help form the water-impenetrable walls for a two-level parking garage with 206 spaces. Excavation earlier this week reached 28 feet below the top of the panels, with about seven feet more to be dug, said project developer Dean Kirkland of Vancouver.
At the beginning of November, with the site excavated, builders will begin pumping 6,400 yards of concrete into the base, providing an 11-foot-deep barrier — along with the cofferdam — against water intrusion, said Nicholas Lilly, chief operating officer for Kirkland Construction Group.
The eight-story Hotel Indigo will offer concierge service, valet, food delivery, dry cleaning and a dog-washing station. The 12-story Kirkland Tower with 40 condos will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom units whose residents can use the hotel amenities. Four restaurants and 17,000 square feet of retail space are planned.
The Hotel Indigo is the first of three proposed hotels in the downtown core to start construction. The AC by Marriott, proposed near the former Red Lion Hotel at The Quay on Port of Vancouver property, is expected to break ground next year. A third hotel, from Evergreen Hospitality, is proposed one block southeast of the Hilton Vancouver Washington. The four-story, 120-room hotel would include around 5,000 square feet of retail space.
