I toured the Miller today and found the project to be excellent. The building manager took me around showing me two well appointed model units along with the excellent facilities including an advanced 24 hour workout center on the lobby level, excellent patio on the third level with a year round outdoor pool, spa, and wait for it… a polar bear plunge pool! What is that last thing you ask? It is a small pool that looks like a spa but the water is maintained at a bone chilling 43º. Apparently if you submerge in water at that temperature for three minutes you burn the equivalent calories to a three MILE run. The building also features a rooftop patio in the NE corner offering excellent views of both Downtown Vancouver, the River, and Cascade mountains. They have BBQ units up there as well. The Miller also has an excellent lobby area with ample space for tenants to gather as well as a third floor entertainment space that can be rented out free of charge to tenants for parties and other gatherings.

The Miller is actually in a very good location. It is one block back from he waterfront itself, so there are not any units right over the water, but it is just a single block away from the Waterfront Park and three blocks to Grant Street Pier. Going the other direction it is just two blocks to Esther Short Park. It will be just a single block from the future center of the new Gateway District.

One of the absolute coolest features of this building is the amazing and HUGE robotic garage. This is not like the other parking stackers in town. Those of you that followed this project may remember they had a deep excavation. There is a five story tall “cavern” in the middle of the building starting two stories underground and rising up to meet the bottom of the third floor. Inside is a six level car stacker. This is effectively a car vending machine for 226 cars. According to my contact at the project it is at this time the largest of its type in the USA. The building manager kindly demonstrated the parking process. It is surprisingly quick and undoubtedly saved substantial space.

This is a worthy project to check out for anyone looking for an urban apartment in Vancouver. You can find out information on Apartments.com. Lovely studio units can be had for as little as $1575 per month and for those looking for a larger unit with enviable views an eighth floor three bed, two bath unit is available for $4475 per month. These prices are well inline with rates in comparable properties but the Miller is ideally located in the center of everything and has a broad selection of amenities. The Miller shares another advantage over most of Downtown’s mid-rise apartments. For those seeking a more quiet experience, units on the second and third floors are type one concrete construction. The Columbia on Block 20 has units on the first and second floors that are type one construction and Riverwest on Block 8 has type construction for units on the 2nd floor. Most mid rise buildings have a type one podium for parking, lobby and retail with 5 floors of units up top in traditional wood frame. Wood frame tends to be noiser than type one. It should be noted that Columbia at Vancouver Center is type one on all six residential floors.

Below is the original progress reporting for this project from concept to completion:

Big Changes to Timberhouse! Timberhouse was an ambitious project proposed by Summit Development Group in Lake Oswego, Oregon. This building was slated to rise up on Block 3 just north of the Kirkland Tower and Indigo Hotel. What makes the building, “ambitious” is the use of cross laminated timber in a high-rise structure. If they get this thing built it will be the one of the tallest CLT structures in the United States. I also like the style of architecture as it has a classic feel. This is a mixed use building with 12 floors. The residential floors may be all apartments, or a mix of apartments and condos. 

Summit Development showed up October 15, 2020 for the City Center Redevelopment Authority meeting with a very different project for Block 3. Timberhouse was to be a 12 story multi-wing CLT building. CLT projects have been having some trouble lately and it seems Timberhouse was no exception. This project appears to be a more traditional project likely to be constructed with a 3-4 floor concrete and steel pedestal with 1-2 floors underground and then 5 more wood frame floors up top for a total of 8 above ground. Although the building is much shorter it will have only 24 fewer units as were planned in the Timberhouse project.

Of course the name Timberhouse loses its luster when the building isn’t actually a cross laminated timber structure, right? Yes, so now it’s dubbed “The Third.” We’ll see if that name sticks 🙂 But it should have little trouble sailing through the process since the Waterfront is a master-planned site and this structure is above the minimum density and should be well below the FAA height restrictions coming in at only 90 feet tall at the roofline.

Update 5/8/2023: Building is now pre-leasing with expected move in early summer. The name is now “The Miller”

Update 12/3/2022: Building is receiving final exterior work including the cladding, interior buildout should take the better part of a full year, this is a big building with 227 units.

Update 9/19/2022: Building is topped out. Crane should come down soon.

Update 8/24/2021 : Tower crane base is installed crane should be operating in a few days.

Update 7/3/2021 : Ground was broken a few weeks ago on this project. There will be a rather large dig out to support the underground portion of the project (2 stories of parking). I would expect a tower crane to be erected sometime in the next 4-6 weeks to support the project.

Update, 10/25/2021: Tower crane was erected last month, structure is starting to rise above street level.

Update, 2-4-2022: Superstructure is now well above street level.