The largest single commercial/residential development to come before the city in recent years won its approval at City of North Vancouver council Monday night, years after it was first pitched.

Concert Properties’ Harbourside development, which will place roughly 800 strata and rental units and 300,000 square feet of commercial space on the waterfront property along Harbourside Drive at the foot of Fell Avenue over the next 10 to 15 years, passed 5-2 in a late-night session of council.

The city previously held a public hearing to rezone the property on April 1 but chose to defer the vote.

The motion passed 5-2, with Couns. Pam Bookham and Rod Clark voting against – the same split on council for each step of the project over the last two years.

For the two dissenters, the issues were poor access, a loss of land that could be commercial or industrial and the project’s isolation from the rest of the city and its services.

The only ways into the area are via Fell Avenue and Bewicke Avenue, which is home to an at-grade rail crossing. TransLink has no plans to run transit to the area and so the developer has promised to run a private shuttle linking the neighbourhood with the SeaBus terminal.

Read more: http://www.nsnews.com/news/north-vancouver-s-harbourside-project-gets-council-approval-1.965173

Lougheed Town Centre has long been one of the quietest of Burnaby’s four town centres. Not in terms of traffic, of course. The intersection of Lougheed Highway and North Road has always been busy. But while Metrotown has boomed, and the neighbourhoods of Brentwood and Edmonds have seen a flurry of new development over the years, the Lougheed area has been comparatively stagnant.

Since opening in 1969, the mall has evolved over the years. It doubled in size in 1986, and underwent significant renovations about a decade ago. But now big plans are in the works. The area is poised for a massive makeover.

Shape Properties Corporation owns the mall property, and recently purchased four more properties in the town centre.

To prepare the ground for redevelopment, the city is embarking on a planning process for the entire 61-acre “Lougheed Core Area” that includes the wedge from Cameron Street in the north all the way down to the Lougheed-North Road intersection.

And like the plans for Brentwood Town Centre, which Shape also owns, the city and the company hope to gradually transform the site from suburban, car-oriented shopping centre to urban, transit and pedestrian-oriented town centre.

Read more: http://www.burnabynewsleader.com/news/254758551.html