Cressey Developments has submitted a development application to the City of Vancouver for the redevelopment of ‘Quilchena Gardens’, a 3.0 acre site at the corner of Arbutus and West 32nd on the Westside of Vancouver.

The site is currently improved with 1960’s era lowrise buildings and has been the subject of speculation regarding redevelopment for the last several years.

A rezoning enquiry by the previous owners contemplated a medium density redevelopment with upwards of 500 rental, condo and social housing units in buildings up to 14-storeys; however, that plan never proceed to a formal rezoning and the site was eventually sold to Cressey in 2022 for $76,000,000.

Rather than pursue a complex rezoning process for the site, Cressey has decided to pursue a development under the existing zoning from 1963, with two-storey townhouses.

Details of the proposed development include:

• Twenty 2-storey townhouse buildings;
• 102 total units;
  • 33 rentals (20 one-bedrooms, 13 two-bedrooms)
  • 69 condos (two and three-bedrooms from 1,417 SF to 2,539 SF)
• One level of underground parking, accessed from lane.

Under the site’s existing CD-1 (26) zoning, the application is “conditional” so it may be permitted. However, it is subject to approval of the Form of Development, and it requires the decision of the Development Permit Board.

The architect for the project is Formwerks Architectural.

PC Urban has applied to the City of Vancouver for permission to develop a new 6-storey at 2410 Columbia Street in Mount Pleasant.

The site is located at the southeast corner of Columbia Street and West 8th Avenue with a total site
size of 12,144 SF. The corner site fronts on to Columbia Street to the West, W. 8th Avenue to the North; the Milano coffee building shares an interior property line on the eastern side of the site.

The proposal for the site is a mixed-use commercial building with Industrial on level 1 to 2 and Office on level 3 to 6, with:

• A building height of 100.0 ft.;
• A density of 4.50 FSR (gross buildable of 54,591 SF);
• Two levels of underground parking providing 53 parking spaces having vehicular access from the lane.

Under the site’s existing I-1 zoning, the application is “conditional” so it may be permitted. However, it requires the decision of the Director of Planning.

The architect for the project is MCMP Architects.

La Maison de la Francophonie has submitted a rezoning application under the Broadway Plan to redevelop the property they own at 1551 West 7th Avenue, between Fir and Granville Streets in the Fairview neighbourhood.

The proposal is to allow for the development of a 21-storey condo tower above a replacement and expansion of La Maison de la Francophonie (French cultural centre) that includes retail space, a theatre, gallery/multi-purpose space, and office space for non-profit organizations.

• 125 condo units;
• A total density of 8.0 FSR;
• A building height of 227 ft.; and
• 204 vehicle parking spaces and 284 bicycle spaces.

This application is being considered under the Broadway Plan.

The architect for the project is Acton Ostry.

HAVN Developments have submitted a rezoning application for a site in the Broadway Plan area for a new rental tower. This comes following another rental tower rezoning by HAVN at the Eastern edge of the plan area, at East 10th near Carolina Street.

2166 West 14th Avenue is located just West of Arbutus Street on the South side of West 14th Avenue. The Broadway Plan allows towers up to 18-storeys, and a max density of 5.50 FSR on this block.

The proposal for the site is to allow for the development of an 18-storey mixed-use building that includes:

• 171 rental units with 20% below market rental units;
• A total density of 5.80 FSR;
• A building height of 194 ft.; and
• 84 vehicle parking spaces and 313 bicycle spaces.

This application is being considered under the Broadway Plan.

The full rezoning application can be viewed here: 2156-2172 W 14th Ave rezoning application

The architect for the project is MCMP Architects.

The land market in Metro Vancouver cooled considerably in 2023, following a very active two year stretch between 2021-2022. The slowdown in transaction activity began in early 2022 and really took hold heading into this year.

Increasing interest rates and stubbornly high construction costs proved challenging in putting together land deals, particularly for larger sites.

Nevertheless, most participants in our market continue to have an optimistic outlook on economic and demographic fundamentals and those that are well capitalized will continue to be in a strong position to acquire good sites.

In the short term, it appears that land deals in the $15-50 Million range are in the ‘sweet spot’ in our market – large enough to meet the scale requirements of larger pension fund and private equity investors, though small enough to execute, finance and build in a single phase.

Here’s a look at each of the 10 largest land deals in Metro Vancouver this year:

1. 1145 Inlet Street, Coquitlam

• Price:                  $111 Million
• Site Area:            8 acres
• Vendor:               Private
• Purchaser:          Ledingham McAllister

The goods:        This 1980’s era rental townhouse complex in the City Centre area of Coquitlam was acquired by Ledingham McAllister to realize signficant development upside. A rezoning application for the site envisions over 1,100 units in 9 highrise and lowrise buildings, all comprising a project entitled “Stratford Wynd“.

The draft master plan and implementation strategy for the site will be prepared in Spring 2024, and City Council will review the master plan and implementation strategy for approval in Fall 2024. The project will be built in phases.

2. 5502 Lougheed Highway, Burnaby

• Price:                  $94 Million
• Site Area:           4.3 Acres
• Vendor:              Private
• Purchaser:          Keltic Development

The goods:          Keltic completed their acquisition of the Rev’s Bowling site on Lougheed Highway in early 2023. The site allows for high density residential in the City of Burnaby’s Brentwood Town Centre Plan.

A preliminary rezoning application was submitted this summer that contemplates three towers, between 50 and 60-storeys in height, with condos, affordable rental units, and retail.

The sale was brokered by Macdonald Commecial and Brett Aura of TRG.

3. 1527 Main Street, Vancouver

• Price:                   $80 Million
• Site Area:            1.2 acres
• Vendor:               McDonald’s Canada
• Purchaser:           Greystar

The goods:        Completed in late November, this sale marks the beginning of an eventual redevelopment of the McDonald’s site at Main & Terminal.

The sale involves a leaseback for the restaurant and an option for a new McDonalds in the new development.

Rezoning plans have not been made public but initial indications suggest that Greystar is planning a highrise market rental project.

The sale was brokered by Brodie Henrichsen of JLL.

4. 1525 Robson Street, Vancouver

• Price:                   $63 Million
• Site Area:            16,400 SF
• Vendor:               Private Investor
• Purchaser:           GWL

The goods:       Negotiated in 2022 and completed in January 2023, this deal is for a midblock highrise site on Robson Street that was rezoned in the West End Community Plan. It sits across the street from GWL’s recently completed rental project “The Chronicle” at 1500 Robson.

The site is zoned to allow for a rental residential development up to 20 storeys.

The sale was brokered by Fraser Elliott.

5. 5350-5430 Heather Street, Vancouver

• Price:                   $47 Million
• Site Area:            1 acre
• Vendor:               Private
• Purchaser:           Rize Alliance & Minto

The goods:       The largest land assembly to complete this year involved five single family lots in the Oakridge Centre area, in a subarea designated to allow towers up to 18-storeys.

A subsequent rezoning application for the site contemplates two towers with 344 market and below market rental units.

The sale was completed by William Maunsell and Kelvin Luk of Luk Real Estate Group.

6. 8216 Brannick Place, Chilliwack

• Price:                  $45.7 Million
• Site Area:           15 acres
• Vendor:              Private
• Purchaser:          Red Bull Canada

The goods:        It was announced in February that Red Bull had acquired this 15 acre site after an extensive site selection process.

Construction is expected to start on the new manufacturing facility in early 2024.

7. 119 East Cordova Street, Vancouver

• Price:                  $42 Million
• Site Area:           18,000 SF
• Vendor:              Salvation Army
• Purchaser:          BC Housing

The goods:          This sale completed in May, and the Purchaser was revealed in August to be BC Housing.

A redevelopment of the site for social housing and below market housing is expected, but no formal plans or applications have been revealed.

8. 1770 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver

• Price:                  $41.1 Million
• Site Area:           1 acre
• Vendor:              Strata
• Purchaser:          Greystar

The goods:         With a completion date in October 2023, this sale was one of the first sites in the Broadway Plan area to sell.

The sale represents 100% of a strata, with the listing and sale process completed by Hart Buck and Jennifer Darling of Colliers. The sale involved a 1973 built woodframe lowrise with 41 units. Redevelopment plans have not been made public, but the Broadway Plan allows for towers up to 20-storeys in this location.

9. 13631 Vulcan Way, Richmond

• Price:                 $40.2 Million
• Site Area:          9.5 acres
• Vendor:             Private Investor
• Purchaser:         Conwest

The goods:        This is the second year in a row that Conwest has made the top 10 list, proving that they continue to be one of the most active industrial developers in Metro Vancouver.

Conwest completed on the sale of this Richmond industrial site in June 2023 and is now in pre-marketing the site in its first phase to be developed into 14 industrial strata units.

10. 1026-1108 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver

• Price:                  $31 Million
• Site Area:           37,000 SF
• Vendor:              Land Assembly
• Purchaser:          Marcon & Amica

The goods:        This 6-lot site was assembled and sold by myself and Charlie Hughes; completing in July 2023. Marcon submitted a rezoning application for the site in October that contemplates a 6-storey, 167 unit seniors project.

Some notes from the above list:

• 6 of the 10 largest land deals in Metro Vancouver took place in the City of Vancouver (up from 3 of 10 last year)
• 8 of 10 are residential land deals
• 6 of 10 were sold by open market bid process (the other 4 were ‘off-market’ or not openly offered)
• Aside from Red Bull, the other 9 sites were bought by well established development groups known in our market, a shift from 2016-2018 when many “new” buyers were making a splash

How does 2023 compare to previous years? The total dollar value for the above 10 deals is $550 Million, well below 2022 ($1.35B) and previously active years.

Here’s the ‘Top 10’ list broken down by year:

Please contact me for further information on any of the above transactions, or if any questions, comments, or corrections to the article.

Happy Holidays!