The long anticipated rezoning of the 14-acre Oakridge Transit Centre site at 949 West 41st Avenue and 5469-5507 Willow Street is nearing the final stages, with a referral to public hearing next week. The master planned project has required a number of minor revisions along the way.

The rezoning application for the site represents the culmination of a 6-year planning and sale process which included:

• Oakridge Transit Centre and Adjacent Sites Policy Statement (2014-2015)
• Sale of site by Translink to Modern Green Development for $440 Million (paid between 2017-2022) (2016)
• Formal rezoning application (July 2019)
• Revised (current) rezoning application (May 2020)

The finalized details of the overall development plan include the following:

• 17 buildings up to 26 storeys in height;
• 1,630 total residential units, including:
  • 1,120 condos;
  • 330 social housing units;
  • 180 market and below market rental units;
• 24,000 SF of retail space;
• 2.36 FSR gross density;
• a 69-space childcare;
• a 2-acre public park;
• new dedicated streets & lanes linking with existing road network;
• total DCLs of $31,246,346 (social housing units exempted)
• public art budget of $2,357,465 ($1.98 /sq ft)
• a total CAC of $80,711,050 – cash & in-kind including:
  • turn-delivery of social housing component ($65,911,050)
  • childcare facility ($8,000,000)
  • public park ($5,000,000)
  • $1,800,000 cash allocated to transportation improvements.

Overall site plan:

The OTC is anticipated to be developed in four phases over a timeline of 10-12 years. The phasing will begin in the southwest corner of the site with the secured rental housing and then move east and northward towards 38th Avenue as shown below:

The total CAC amount of $80 Million is equivalent to $77 per sq ft. of market residential and commercial space (excluding the social and rental housing components).

The total purchase price of $440 Million equates to:

• $300 per buildable SF on the gross overall density
• $372 per buildable SF on the condo/rental/retail density (excluding social housing & childcare space)

The architect for the project is James KM Cheng.