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A hidden but historic section of Gastown is up for redevelopment.

Blood Alley is an old cobblestone lane that runs from Abbott Street to Carrell between Water Street and West Cordova. Two buildings that span most of the Cordova Street section, the Stanley Hotel and New Fountain Shelter, were left vacant in 2017. They’re about to be replaced with low-rise condo towers (which will include a mix of social housing). And so the city is taking the opportunity to redesign the adjacent public space.

An open house is scheduled for May 15 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Woodward’s Atrium at 333 Abbott Street.

"We're now ready to share the design, and want to hear what you think," the project's website reads.

According to local historian Lani Russwurm, Blood Alley (or Trounce Alley, as it was originally known), dates to the 1860s, although most of what’s visible there today was constructed in the 1970s.

“It became a proper alley in the late 1860s when W.R. Lewis’s Royal Mail Stagecoach line was extended from New Westminster to Burrard Inlet,” reads an article Russwurm wrote for Forbidden Vancouver.

“Trounce Alley was Vancouver’s first alley and an important strip in the early days of the settlement. It was home to several businesses, including horse stables, a broom factory, and a cabin where Gassy Jack’s teenage wife and infant son lived.”

The city website states the alley’s redesign will “improve the public realm, increase safety, and introduce programming with support for community stewardship as a shared space, including opportunities for low-income residents".

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2021, once the adjacent redevelopments of the Stanley and New Fountain are complete.

The north side of the Stanley Hotel as it exists today overlooking Blood Alley. City of Vancouver

The latest redesign plans for the Stanley, which was built in 1906, and New Fountain Shelter, which was built in 1899, say their connected facade facing Cordova Street should be retained. The building will consist of one 10-storey tower plus a lower section that runs about half the block. It will contain 62 market-rate units plus 80 units described as social housing.

The “existing building interiors are greatly deteriorated and the proposal is to retain the Stanley and New Fountain Hotel façades as a culturally significant historic resource in Gastown, while undertaking a rehabilitation of the overall site through the construction of a mid-rise tower behind the historic façade”, reads a design rationale submitted by Henriquez Partners Architects.