This proposal would transform a surface parking lot into a new expanded Safeway and a new 100% rental development offering 1,044 rental homes of which ~104 will be offered at below market rates. It’s immediately adjacent to one of the busiest transit hubs in the region. This project’s site has been identified for densification by the Grandview-Woodland Community Plan and is aligned with the more recently approved Broadway Plan as well as Provincial Legislation (BC Transit Oriented Areas Policy) to increase density on transit. It will support hundreds of new jobs in the community, which will contribute to increased spending at community restaurants and shops. It’s also designed to be extremely low-carbon — far surpassing City of Vancouver sustainability requirements.

This project is an important step towards realizing the goals set out by City Planning, the municipal, provincial and federal governments to support housing in Vancouver, and it will directly contribute to this city and community’s future success.

Public engagement on this project, both City-led and Developer-led, has been ongoing since 2016. Prior to this, extensive community consultation resulted in the approved 2017 Grandview-Woodland Community Plan, the context for our proposed project. In 2022, the City approved the Broadway Plan and in 2023, the Province introduced legislation to promote greater density on transit, both of which have informed our latest revised proposal. What we have seen and heard throughout our now over 7 years of engagement is that there is strong support for our project and housing projects of this kind on transit, as well as an urgent need for more rental in our city.

The updated proposal’s primary added benefits include:

• A new 37-space childcare space (approx. 10,000 sf of indoor and outdoor space) to be turned over to the City of Vancouver.
• Over 100 additional rental and below-market rental units, bringing the total to 1,044 rental units.

This project will create over 1,044 new rental homes, on an underused site, half of which is currently a surface parking lot.

In 2016, the project was originally conceived as a primarily market condo housing offering. However, following the delay of our public hearing we took the opportunity to relook at the proposal and have now brought forward a revised 100% rental project. The project also provides ~104 below-market rental homes.

For a balanced city, density needs to be distributed in all communities. The Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood and specifically the Broadway & Commercial site has been identified by City Planning for additional density, because of its location immediately adjacent to one of Vancouver’s busiest transit hubs.

The City anticipates that over 10,000 new residents will be coming to the Grandview-Woodland Community alone in the next three decades. We have heard from our city and community that there is a need for housing across the continuum now.

Once Broadway & Commercial is complete the project will include a new larger Safeway store with an enhanced offering that will serve the needs of the community. Safeway has been serving this community for over 50 years and they are looking forward to serving this community even better in the future through this project.

Commercial-Broadway Station is already one of the busiest stations in Western Canada — In 2019 data from TransLink shows the station served over 30,000,000 passengers in a year. The Broadway-Millennium Line Extension is expected to increase traffic significantly at this node, projected to double the ridership of the current 99 B-Line and add another 50M passengers a year to this line alone by 2050.

The Broadway & Commercial proposal generally complies with the requirements outlined by the 2017 official Community Plan. In response to the current context of the approved Broadway Plan and the Province's recent legislation to promote higher density on transit, we have submitted an updated all rental proposal. This new proposal is approximately 8.27 FSR and ranges from 36-43 stories above the retail plinth. Aligning with the Broadway Plan, it is similar to what is contemplated at other lower traffic volume transit nodes along Broadway.

• 100% rental with 1,044 units of rental total. Of this total, 35% are 2 Bedroom or larger for families.
• ~104 of the rental homes are below-market rental.
• A total of 32,000 sf public plaza area that exceeds with the 2017 Grandview-Woodland Plan, with infrastructure in place for a public theatre and community cultural space. This updated proposal has further increased the publicly accessible space by adding 12,000 sf on the level 2 terrace overlooking the plaza.
• A new Safeway grocery store, the most complete in the neighbourhood.
• Re-wilding of the urban environment through verdant landscaping.
• New workspace, supporting hundreds of new jobs in the community. Estimated to significantly increase annual spending at community restaurants and shops.
• A new ~10,000 sf City-Owned Daycare has been added to the proposal.

It starts with a low-carbon district energy system operated by a regulated utility - Creative Energy. A central plant will provide low carbon heating and cooling 100% powered by clean electricity from BC Hydro, with natural gas only for back-up heating. Two water storage tanks (approximately 15,000 litres each) called the “Thermal Tanks”, will act like thermal batteries, with excess energy recovered from cooling commercial space during the day, stored and used to heat residential homes during peak morning and evening periods.

Broadway & Commercial is targeting CaGBC Zero Carbon Building Certification and sustainability built into every aspect of its design. The resulting project will far exceed the sustainability requirements outlined in the Vancouver Building Code.

After leveraging sustainable design methods and our district energy system to reduce embodied and operational carbon emissions over a 60 year lifecycle, we will offset our remaining emissions using reliable sources to achieve true net zero carbon. From an emissions perspective, it will be as if our project was never constructed.

• 90% reduction in operational carbon through our district energy plant powered by clean electricity from BC Hydro.
• 25% reduction in embodied carbon through the use of low-carbon materials throughout the structure and envelope.
• High-quality carbon offsets purchased locally to mitigate residual emissions.

The recently proposed Phase 3 of the Broadway Plan contemplates 30-40 storey towers (10-12 FSR) at station areas to the west that attract far less transit and vehicular traffic than Broadway & Commercial.

Our project is within these heights and aligns with the current City policies for the area. This is in addition to offering community amenities and targeting sustainability objectives that far exceed those sought by the Broadway Plan.

The built-form contemplated in the Grandview-Woodland Plan allowed for 4 towers at 24 storeys. This project proposes 3 buildings at 36, 37 and 43 storeys above retail plinth, a built-form which produces more open space, better tower separation, and reduces shadowing and bulk. The move to three towers was proposed by architects Perkins & Will working in consultation with the City Planning department over multiple years and using best practices in urban design. There are many benefits achieved by this move, and this design was recognized by Design Panel as better urban planning.

The project offers approximately 104 below-market rental homes and these homes will be offered at 100% CMHC City Wide Rents.