Gilbert Jacob (Chief Gibby)

Do we need hard hats for this?

Jacob Lewis III has helped to oversee the Sanak development for years.

Three of the 11 towers are almost done.

So this is Tower 3.

I'd been reading about Sanak for years, but seeing these towers in person, they're sleek and modern.

Huge floor-to-ceiling windows made of tinted glass, story after story.

Standing just feet away and craning my neck to see the top,

The towers felt massive.

Yeah, the towers do evoke mountains with a wide base and they're a bit narrower at the top.

To really understand this project they're building, Jacob took us up to the very top floor of the tallest tower so far.

We walk up one more flight of stairs and this is the roof.

And it is.

Spectacular.

Oh, there's the bay.

Straight ahead are the blue waters of English Bay.

To our right, just across a narrow inlet, is downtown Vancouver with all those skyscrapers.

But here, around the towers themselves, it's all parks and a leafy neighborhood with cute houses.

This is this little section here.

That's the NIMBY area.

From 38 stories up, it was easy to see the collision of the free market and the city zoning laws.