32-storey West End rental housing tower approved by Vancouver City Council

2023 artistic rendering of the rental housing tower for 1055 Harwood Street, Vancouver. (GBL Architects/GWL Realty Advisors)

The cluster of new secured purpose-built rental housing on Thurlow Street corridor within the West End of downtown Vancouver will grow as a result of this latest project approval.

In a recent public hearing, Vancouver City Council unanimously approved the rezoning application by GWL Realty Advisors to redevelop the mid-block site of 1055 Harwood Street — near the northeast corner of the intersection of Harwood and Thurlow streets — into a 32-storey secured purpose-built rental housing tower.

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This is the second time in five and a half years a redevelopment proposal for this site was considered by City Council, which previously approved a rezoning application in 2018 calling for a 32-storey tower with 82 market condominium units and 44 social housing units.

The project’s approach changed after 2022, when the previous project owners — Intracorp Homes and Strand Development — sold the property to GWL Realty Advisors, which then subsequently submitted a new rezoning application with 100% rental housing uses and an overhauled design by GBL Architects.

1055 Harwood Street Vancouver rental housing

Site of 1055 Harwood Street, Vancouver. (GBL Architects/GWL Realty Advisors)

Site of 1055 Harwood Street, Vancouver. (NSDA Architects/Intracorp/Strand)

Cancelled 2018-approved condominium/social housing design:

Artistic rendering of 1055 Harwood Street, Vancouver. (NSDA Architects/Intracorp /Strand)

2024-approved design with 100% rental housing uses:

1055 harwood street vancouver west end rental towers gwl realty 6

2023 artistic rendering of the rental housing tower for 1055 Harwood Street, Vancouver. (GBL Architects/GWL Realty Advisors)

Under the newly approved rezoning, there will be a total of 269 rental homes, including 217 market rental units and 52 below-market rental (BMR) units. At least 80% of the BMR units will be rented at 20% below the area’s average market rent, and 20% of the BMR units will be rented at 50% of the area’s average market rent.

“It’s wonderful to get a report where there is some very much deeper level of affordability built into a project. There’s not a huge number of units, but those units are really significant for people… It signals that it’s possible to do this, and if we had just a few in every single development, what a difference that would make within the city,” said Green councillor Adriane Carr.

ABC councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung added, “I think this is a good switch of tenure for hundreds of new rental units coming to the market in a city that has historically had a low vacancy rate of less than 1%, and the level of affordability is truly noteworthy.”

2023 rental housing tower design at 1055 Harwood Street, Vancouver. (GBL Architects/GWL Realty Advisors)

2023 artistic rendering of the rental housing tower for 1055 Harwood Street, Vancouver. (GBL Architects/GWL Realty Advisors)

Since 2023, a previous policy originally intended to be temporary was made permanent in an effort to reawaken stalled development proposals along the Thurlow Street corridor of the West End. Developers were putting their condominium tower projects with a social housing component and significant community amenity contributions (CACs) — as prescribed by the West End Plan — on hold due to the challenging market environment. In response, the municipal government provided these sites along the corridor with the alternative option of pursuing secured purpose-built rental housing, which removes the social housing and CACs requirement, but requires at least 20% of the rental housing be set aside for below-market units.

The recent flexibility has catalyzed numerous new major secured purpose-built rental housing projects along the corridor, including the conversion of proposals that were originally condominiums with a social housing component.

In June 2022, immediately to the west of GWL Realty Advisors’ development site, the previous makeup of City Council approved Bosa Properties’ rezoning application for two 33-storey towers at 1065 Harwood Street and 1332 Thurlow Street with a combined total of over 500 secured purpose-built rental homes. This Bosa Properties project was also stalled under its original iteration as primarily a condominium development.

GWL Realty Advisors’ project will have a total building floor area of 206,000 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 11.9 times larger than the 17,300 sq ft site, which is currently occupied by a 1948-built, three-storey apartment building. The area’s maximum building height is limited to 300 ft due to a protected mountain view cone.

Five underground levels will contain 138 vehicle parking stalls and 513 secured bike parking spaces.

2023 rental housing tower design at 1055 Harwood Street, Vancouver. (GBL Architects/GWL Realty Advisors)

2023 artistic rendering of the rental housing tower for 1055 Harwood Street, Vancouver. (GBL Architects/GWL Realty Advisors)

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