Developing Story: Musqueam showcase preferred option for development on endowment lands.

The preferred option for the Musqueam Indian Band’s development of a 22-acre site on University Endowment Lands was presented at an open house last night.

The band plans to develop a site known as Block F between University Boulevard and Acadia Road, land which was returned by the provincial government under a 2008 reconciliation agreement. The open house is part of the pre-application process.

The preferred option envisions a commercial village of 30,000 square feet, a four-storey 120-room hotel, residential buildings, including three-storey town homes, four-to-six storey buildings, and four towers between 18 to 22 storeys, as well as open spaces in the form of trails, parks and village greens, according to Gordon Easton, project manager at Colliers International.

Easton added it allows for the mature stand of trees to remain with the wetlands in the centre of the site.

“That’s something we heard quite strongly from the community and the Pacific Spirit Park Society — that that was something they’d really like to see and also respecting the current trail network connections that exist on the site,” he said.

Thursday marks the third open house for the project — about 300 attended the first open house in early December and another 170 attended the second one in early February. Almost 1,300 views have been recorded to date for the Block F topic on PlaceSpeak, an online community consultation site.