The Vancouver City Center Redevelopment Authority board has given the initial nod to grant the developers of Vancouvercenter more time to complete a fourth building downtown.

The company asked the city to either extend or eliminate an $800,000 penalty if it doesn’t have its final building, the south office tower, completed by June 30.

The board agreed last week to extend the deadline to January 2015. The extension also amends several other requirements set out in the agreement between VandevCo, the developer, and the city.

VandevCo, faced with an overbuilt market and unwilling lenders, asked for the extension in February 2009. Three of four buildings at the $100 million-plus Vancouvercenter complex, along the east side of Esther Short Park, were finished several years ago. But a squishy office market repeatedly has delayed construction of the final tower on the northwest corner of Sixth and Washington streets. The site is finished temporarily with a layer of rocks that sit on top of the roof of the underground parking garage.

The city council will have the final say on the approval of the extension plan.

VandevCo will now have the option to buy the 750-space underground parking lot from the city starting in 2015 at fair market value, or at the original construction cost, adjusted for inflation, City Economic Development Manager Eric Holmes said.

Additionally, the planned south tower building will have eight floors, contain no fewer than 20 residential units, no less than 15,000 square feet of retail space and up to 105,000 square feet of office space.

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