The conceptual master plan for the 7.9 acre Grosvenor Brentwood site goes to Burnaby City Council next week.

The site, acquired by Grosvenor in 2020, includes five parcels at Lougheed and Alpha that were formerly occupied by a Chrysler dealership, and are currently being used for a weekend public market and food truck festival. The largest parcel, 4664 Lougheed Highway is occupied by an older office building.

The first step in the planning process for this transit oriented, high density site involves preparation of a Conceptual Master Plan for the site, and Committee and Council consideration of amendments to the prevailing land use framework of the current Brentwood Town Centre Plan.

The preliminary concept is summarized as follows: “The preliminary concept plan for the subject site is comprised of different districts, each with a distinct and unique architectural and landscape expression. These districts are described more fully in Section 3.4 of this report. The site sits at the centre of the Brentwood Town Centre and will become a hub of activity with a variety of open air shopping experiences, cafes and restaurants, office space, and highdensity rental and strata residential opportunities, all designed around new public plazas, and terraced open spaces. These changes will help create a new, high quality, integrated neighbourhood in Burnaby that will be a seamless extension of existing surrounding neighbourhoods.”

The site is envisioned to have multiple phases, broken down into 5 districts, as follows:

The High Street District

• Corner of Alpha and Dawson
• A condo tower between 30-45 storeys, over a podium with 3-storeys of condo and 2-storeys of commercial

Urban Gateway District

• Northwest corner at Alpha and Lougheed, next to Brentwood Station
• Two high-rise market rental towers between 45 to 65 storeys in height, over mid-rises with up to 9 storeys of non-market rental, with retail and flex office at grade

Civic Heart District

• At centre of the site fronting Dawson
• Comprises a community centre and pathways linking the site, described as a multi-story cantilevering structure designed to shelter outdoor areas on the south side and provide open sunny balconies and a sky park over the rest of the structure, with large recreational facilities cut into the grade of the sloping site to provide easy access for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and motorists of all ages and abilities.

Oasis District

• Northeast corner of the site at Lougheed and Beta
• two high-rise market rental towers between 40 to 60 storeys in height, over mid-rises with up to 9 storeys of non-market rental atop retail, flex office and amenity space at the ground level.

Green Link District

• Southeast corner of the site at Beta and Dawson
• Condo tower between 35 to 45 storeys in height, over a 5-storey podium including condo and retail

The total proposed density for the site is 9.0 FAR, or 3,080,000 SF.

The site will be rezoned in multiple phases and utilizes the RM5s and RM5r Multiple Family Residential Districts; commercial utilizing the C3 General Commercial as guidelines and for a community centre utilizing the P3 Park and Public Use.

Below is a breakdown of the permitted and proposed density per the rezoning guidelines:

Virtual open houses will be held on March 16th and 17th.

Project website.

The owners of the well known the property currently occupied by the well known ‘Salmon House on the Hill’ property in West Vancouver have submitted a Preliminary Development Proposal for the redevelopment of the property at 2221-2229 Folkestone Way.

The proposal includes a new smaller restaurant building totaling 4,500 SF and 10 townhome units averaging 2,700 SF each.

The total density for the site would increase from 0.28 FSR to 0.58 FSR. The overall parking would be reduced from 63 stalls currently, to 58 stalls.

The proposal is being considered under Policy 2.1.5 of the Official Community Plan for commercial sites. The application is still preliminary and has not been submitted as a formal application yet. An online open house will be held on March 16, 2022.

Bosa Developments got the ball rolling this week on a conceptual high-density mixed use development at the Northwest corner of Lougheed and Willingdon in the Brentwood Town Centre area of Burnaby.

The “Brentwood West” site is approximately 3.27 acres (142,542 sq. ft.) in size and is comprised of seven individual parcels. One of the parcels (4488 Halifax Street) is vacant, three parcels (4430 Halifax Street, and 1801, 1925 Willingdon Avenue) are occupied by older low-rise office buildings, two parcels (both addressed 4461 Lougheed Highway) are occupied by older low-rise retail uses, and one parcel (1967 Willingdon) is occupied by a Petro Canada gas station.

The sites require a Community Plan Amendment and Conceptual Master Plan. Bosa owns the three parcels located at 4430, 4488 Halifax Street, and 1801 Willingdon Avenue. The remaining parcels are currently held by three separate owners.

The preliminary concept is a transit integrated mixed-use employment and commercial gateway into the Brentwood
Town Centre. The site is envisioned to be developed in four main phases, each having a unique identity and relationship within the site. It is anticipated that each phase would be brought forward as a single, or related grouping of site specific rezoning applications.

Upon completion, the approximately 3.27 acres (142,542 sq. ft.) site is envisioned to accommodate four mixed-use residential and commercial towers, two new public open spaces, a new street linking Buchannan Street to Lougheed Highway, and a range of public realm and infrastructure upgrades, including the achievement of the Town Centre Street Standards along the development frontages.

Phase 1 – Bosa owned sites at 4430-4488 Halifax Street – single condo tower over retail, with 6-storey non-market rental podium

Phase 2 – Bosa owned corner of Willingdon & Halifax – “signature” rental tower, with office & retail podium

Phase 3 – Corner of Lougheed & Willingdon – “landmark” condo & rental tower, with office & retail podium

Phase 4 – 1925 Willingdon – condo & non-market rental tower over, with office & retail podium

The overall permitted maximum density is 14.3 FAR, as per the following:

A pre-application has been submitted for the development of a vacant plot of land just South of the Schara Tzedeck cemetery, on the Western Edge of New Westminster, bordering Burnaby and just Northwest of the Queensborough Bridge. There is an existing enclave of single family homes directly south of the site, and the cemetery to the north and east.

The site at 2342 – 2346 Marine Drive is 23,500 SF and is a short walk to the 22nd Street Skytrain Station, though outside of any OCP designation to allow rezoning.

The proposal for the site includes a 30-storey rental apartment building that includes below market rental units. Details of the proposal include:

• 230 ‘near market’ & below market rental units
  • 185 rented slightly below market rents (10% below market rents)
  • 45 below- and nonmarket units (20% of units)
• 2,066 sq. ft. of ground floor retail;
• 3,180 sq. ft. childcare space;
• 4,574 sq. ft. community use space;
• a total density of 8.7 FSR.
• 246 underground parking stalls.

The application describes the project rationale: “As a not for profit organization, the board is looking to create an on-going source of revenue to service the organization for years to come. The best way forward to meet their objectives, and to service the community they are in is to create a development consisting of secured market rental and affordable rental housing. To that end, 20% of the residential units are to be designated as affordable rental units, or 46 units in the proposed design.”

The architect for the project is collabor8 Architecture + Design (BC) Inc.

The proposal is before the Land Use and Planning Committee, and will require further staff review before becoming a full application.

The Jim Pattison Group has acquired a 22,500 SF site at the Southeast corner of West Broadway and Balaclava Street in Kitsilano for $30,750,000. The site is zoned C-2C which allows a maximum density of 3.0 FSR; based on the existing zoning this price equates to $456 per buildable SF. There is no news yet on redevelopment plans.