Here is an update to some of the rezoning applications that have been advanced to public hearing at Burnaby City council this week:

7201 11th Avenue (Southgate City –  Phase 2)

This proposal is the second phase of land to go through rezoning in Ledingham McAllister’s “Southgate City” master planned community in South Burnaby. The plan for this plot in the ‘Island Neighbourhood’ in the Southwest corner of the site includes:

• a 28-storey tower and two 4-storey lowrise buildings
• 321 units (213 in tower, 108 in lowrises)
• 84 one-bedrooms, 225 two-bedrooms and 12 three-bedrooms
• 354 underground parking spaces
• 307,037 SF of gross floor area

6695 Dunblane Avenue & 4909-4971 Imperial Street

This “L” shaped property is owned by Transca Development, who acquired the assembly of four Metrotown lowrise apartments in February 2016 for $28,700,000 and submitted an initial rezoning inquiry at that time. The 56,239 SF site sits in a very active development zone, with The Park, Met 1 and Met 2 all nearby. Transca is now seeking approval to move to public hearing with a high-density residential project under the RM-5s designation including:

• a 36-storey tower and 2-4 storey lowrise form
• 313 units
• total density of 5.11 FAR
• 6,225 SF of live/work (commercial space) 0.11 FAR
• 31 studios, 103 one-bedrooms, 112 two-bedrooms and 67 three-bedrooms
• 387 underground parking spaces

6668-6730 Dunblane Avenue & 6661-6709 Marlborough Avenue

Just across Dunblane Avenue to Transca’s applicaiton, Polygon’s application on Dublane, originally introduced in November 2015, is now headed to public hearing. Details of the proposal for the 7-lot, 54,085 SF assembly of duplexes and apartment buildings includes:

• a 38-storey tower with townhouses
• 263 units (255 in tower and 8 townhouse units)
• total density of 5.0 FAR
• 1 studio, 220 two-bedrooms, 42 three-bedrooms

Little Mountain Cohousing has submitted a rezoning application for a 3-lot land assembly in the Little Mountain Area of Vancouver. The plan calls for a rezone of 4983-5007 Quebec Street from RS-1 (One-Family Dwelling) District to CD-1 to allow a 6-storey residential building that includes:

• 25 residential units;
• 3 one-bedrooms, 9 two-bedrooms & 13 3-bedrooms;
• a building height of 65 ft.;
• a total density of 2.3 FSR (max in the area plan); and
• 19 parking spaces and 35 bicycle spaces.

The application is being considered under the Little Mountain Adjacent Area Rezoning Policy, which was adopted in 2013 and covers the area between the Little Mountain site and Main Street/West 33rd Avenue.

The architect for the project is Cornerstone Architecture.

Pennyfarthing Development has applied to rezone a Cambie Street land assembly at 5030-5070 Cambie Street, on the East side of Cambie between West 33rd and West 35th to allow a 6-storey condo building and 2-storey townhouses along the lane, including:

• a total of 51 residential units;
• a maximum building height of 66 ft.;
• a total density of 2.40 FSR; and
• 65 vehicle parking spaces and 64 bicycle spaces.

The application is being considered under the Cambie Corridor Plan.

Pennyfarthing is now under construction on Bennington House, which quickly sold out.

Bosa Properties, in partnership with Kingswood Properties, have now formally applied to rezone the property at 1500 West Georgia Street. The anticipated “Jenga” building was initially released to the media a year ago, but now is an official application. The project is planned for the plaza next to the existing office tower at Georgia and Cardero, which Bosa acquired in 2014 for $120,500,000.

The proposal, by renowned German architect Buro Ole Schereen,  is for a 43-storey residential development adjacent to the existing office building. The proposal includes:

• 217 condo units (over 65% with 2-bedrooms or more)
• 282,452 SF of new floor area;
• a total density of 11.47 FSR
• 496,452 SF gross across the entire site (including the existing office building);
• total height of 440 feet
• a restaurant at the corner of Georgia and Nicola streets; and
• 7 levels of underground parking.

The Letter of Intent attached to the application describes the project:

This rezoning is being considered under the Rezoning Policy for the West End, which was adopted as part of the West End Community Plan in 2014, and was largely the rationale for Bosa’s acquisition of the site that year.

The full rezoning application can be found here: http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/1500wgeorgia/index.htm

Below is a brief update to a previous analysis of land sales along the Cambie Corridor that was originally posted last year. The most recent project to launch pre-sales is The Regent by Regent International on the North side of West King Edward, which launched in July 2016, and having substantially sold out at over $1,000 per SF. Fully 13 of the first 15 projects to launch pre-sales since 2012 have sold out quite quickly and steadily increasing prices.

As one of the most consistently strong pre-sales markets in Metro Vancouver, land values are continuing to increase as developers are bidding more aggressively to reflect end-sales demand.

Up and down the Corridor, numerous land assemblies have occurred, with many rezoning applications at various stages of the process. Almost 20 sites have now had rezoning enacted; meaning they have been officially approved by the City, and over one-third of the 439 lots in the plan area have now been sold.

The following chart depicts all of the site/land assembly sales that have taken place within the plan area since 2009. As recently as 2014, land sales averaged $175-200 per buildable SF. Today, land values have escalated to as high as $250-300 per buildable SF, and a couple of sites have actually traded above the $300 per buildable SF threshold.

The strength of the Cambie land market is not entirely surprising given the strong pre-sales trends and given that land on the Westside with exisitng zoning for multifamily is now regularly trading above $400 per buildable SF.