Proposed downtown arterial puts Vancouver's 'Produce Row' at risk

Malkin Avenue nearthe city's Downtown Eastsideis known as "Produce Row" it's the starting point for a cluster of half a dozenwholesalers that distribute fruits and vegetables across Canada.

But it's also where the City of Vancouver is proposing tobuilda new arterial to replaceVenablesand Prior streets andconnect the area to the downtowncore when it eventually tears down the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts.

"The proposed overpass would start right in front of my building and basically shut off access," said Bryan Uvesugi, president of produce wholesaler Fresh Point Canada.

Uvesugi says businesses like his could be in jeopardy if the city decides to use Malkin Avenue because it would restrict access to the more than 4,000 trucks that block traffic as they manoeuvre into position each week.

He and other major produce businesses on Produce Roware raising concerns about thenew arterial road being built, whichthey say will cut off access to their stores and putthe city's food networks at risk.

'We would be forced to leave'

Ina letter to its members, the B.C. Produce Marketing Association says turningMalkinAvenue into a busy arterial will make it difficult for trucks to access the area.

The disruption is of particular concern forUyesugi, who says he startedcleaning floors on Produce Row as a boy.

"I walked up and asked for a job and a fella handed me a broom," he said. "Forty-sixyears later, here I am."

Damien Bryan, manager of Discovery Organics, which serves hundreds of retailers across western and northern Canada, agrees the change would be problematic.

"It would simply hamper our business to such a degree that we would be forced to leave," he said.

The BCPMA says splitting up the businesses along Produce Row would cause all the local retailers that rely on the businesses there to drive to different parts of the city to compare prices and get stock.

The businesses along the street want the city to consider alternate routes instead.

False Creek Flats planning process

But the city saysbuildingthe arterial on National Avenue, which it is also considering,willcost $230 million instead of $130 millionand result in increased travel times.

It would also displace the city's fire training facility.

The arterial is being proposedas part of the False Creek Flats planningprocessare-envisioning ofthe 450-acreindustrial area that supplies 8,000 people with jobs.

• 7 ways False Creek Flats could change Vancouver

The city describes the neighbourhoodas the "largest and most diverse produce wholesaler anddistribution cluster in Metro Vancouver."

Big changes arealready underway for the neighbourhood, which isdestined as the future home of Emily Carr University and St. Paul's Hospital.

City council intendsto make a decision on the proposed routeby this fall, with construction beginning in two years.

With files from Angela Sterritt