Approved Science World rental towers could raise $700 million for City of Vancouver | Daily Hive

Approved municipally owned rental housing towers next to Science World could bring in about $700 million in long-term revenue for City of Vancouver

Concept of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (HCMA/Archeology/City of Vancouver)

In a 6-2 vote with Green Party city councillor Pete Fry and COPE city councillor Sean Orr in opposition, Vancouver City Council approved on Tuesday the second City of Vancouver-owned market rental housing project spearheaded by the municipal government’s Vancouver Housing Development Office (VHDO).

This was the approval of the rezoning application at 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., which is prominently located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Main Street and Quebec Street — replacing the surface vehicle parking lot immediately south of SkyTrain’s Main Street-Science World Station, and just east of Science World.

There will be two towers — 42 storeys and 45 storeys, reaching up to 425 ft. in height — connected by a six-storey base podium. It will contain 780 secured purpose-built market rental homes — entailing 75 studio units, 423 one-bedroom units, 197 two-bedroom units, and 85 three-bedroom units — and about 13,500 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space on the ground level. Overall, the complex will have about 669,000 sq. ft. of building floor area, plus two underground vehicle parking levels.

The tone and substance of City Council’s discussion and decision Tuesday for this project mirrored an October 2025 debate and last week’s public hearing and subsequent approval of the separate rezoning application for 1402-1460 Burrard St., 900 Pacific St., and 1441-1451 Hornby St., which is another major City-owned, VHDO-spearheaded market rental housing project.

At times, the comments made by city councillors and City staff felt like déjà vu.

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Brad Foster, the director of VHDO, framed the project as one of six City-owned sites being advanced to “optimize value and financial returns for the city within the Property Endowment Fund.”

“This is one of the most prominent transit-oriented development sites, probably in the entire Lower Mainland,” Foster told City Council during the public hearing.

“This is an absolutely ideal location for rental. This would be a high-demand rental location given its proximity to Falls Creek and the SkyTrain Station and Chinatown and everything else that’s around that area.”

Video animation of the City of Vancouver-owned and spearheaded project of building 2 market rental housing towers with 780 units next to #SkyTrain‘s Main Street-Science World Station. #vanpoli #vanre 2/2https://t.co/5XzF2Z1uYJ pic.twitter.com/AcvseIqdoo

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) February 11, 2026

1405 Main Street 1510 Quebec Street Vancouver rental towers

Concept of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (HCMA/Archeology/City of Vancouver)

Existing condition:

Existing condition of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (HCMA/Archeology/City of Vancouver)

Foster outlined the project’s scale in financial terms: an estimated valuation of $701 million after completion and achieving full occupancy, and forecasted revenue to the municipal government of roughly $695 million over the first 35- to 40-year lifespan of the complex, with the revenues gradually increasing over time as the debt decreases.

To get there, however, the project would require major upfront construction financing — likely in the range of $700 million — sourced through a mix of provincial and federal government partners, including Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and potentially private equity via a development partner.

When asked, Foster shared that VHDO has had positive discussions with private developers who might be interested in partnering up with the City.

Such projects would only go ahead if the timing is right, based on market conditions and the ability to land sufficient financing, with the rezoning applications and subsequent entitlements enabling these projects to become near-shovel-ready.

Foster stressed that the City’s model is to maximize revenue from these sites, then allow a future City Council to reinvest the revenue into housing or other public priorities.

“We would generate as much revenue, maximize the revenue where possible, and then Council could reinvest that revenue into housing or other public benefits as they see fit,” he said.

He also repeatedly returned to the core financial constraint that dominated both this public hearing and last week’s Burrard/Pacific/Hornby project debate: with construction costs and financing needs at this scale, the project’s revenues would need to be largely market-based to service the debt.

When asked about the financial feasibility of setting aside some of the units at below-market rents, Foster said “the biggest issue is that the project would not be able to debt finance through its revenue, given the significant financing that would be required to build this,” adding that, under current assumptions, the project could not support below-market rental units without a substantial injection of direct public funding and/or low-interest construction financing from senior governments — funds he described as extremely limited.

“[Low-interest] federal financing is our preferred financing partner, but we would certainly look to private equity markets as well. It would depend on the development partner that we bring to the table, because the goal would be for the City to come in as an equity partner, a joint venture partner, but it would really be delivered through a private sector partner in terms of the construction. They’ll have something to say about the financing,” said Foster.

That, too, echoed last week’s discussion almost point for point.

Existing condition:

Existing condition of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (HCMA/Archeology/City of Vancouver)

As with the Burrard/Pacific/Hornby project, the central political fault line was whether a City-owned site should be used primarily to generate new long-term general revenues for the municipal government through market rental housing uses — with the revenue supporting a wide range of City projects and initiatives to build new and improved community and recreation centres, parks, infrastructure, and utilities, and potentially also affordable housing projects — or whether it should be required to include a guaranteed share of affordable housing, with all rental income from such projects dedicated to only supporting new affordable housing projects.

After hearing City staff explain the need for 100 per cent market rents to ensure the project remains financially viable, an amendment was put forward by Green city councillor Pete Fry to set aside a minimum of 20 per cent of the units as below-market rental housing, but it was rejected by a majority of City Council. Fry’s amendment was nearly identical to the one he brought forward in last week’s public hearing for the other project at the north end of the Burrard Street Bridge.

After Fry’s amendment was rejected, a subsequent, separate amendment by COPE city councillor Sean Orr to reserve at least 20 per cent of the units at the Main/Quebec project for social housing — which offers rents even lower than what is considered below-market rental — was also defeated.

Fry argued that when the City is stewarding public land, it has a heightened obligation to ensure that land is used for “maximum public benefit,” and to hold itself to at least the same standard it demands of private developers.

“This is exactly the kind of place we want to be providing more affordable housing, not high-end market housing,” said Fry, pointing to the site’s location being optimally served by public transit services. He warned against what he described as a “race to the bottom,” where public land is used primarily to deliver market units while affordability is deferred to some future, uncertain reinvestment decision. He asserted there is a need for the City to apply the same requirements that it imposes on private developers, with the City typically requiring at least 20 per cent of the units in secured purpose-built rental housing projects be set aside at below-market rents and the remaining 80 per cent at market rents.

Fry also questioned the idea of leaving the use of future revenues to “an unfettered future Council,” arguing that City Councils change, priorities shift, and there is no guarantee that those funds would ultimately be directed toward housing or social needs.

“We exist to manage common resources on behalf of our citizens. It’s not our property. It’s the public’s property,” said Fry.

“Therefore, as government, we have an obligation to ensure that land is used for public purposes. We are legally and philosophically obliged to uphold that public trust — that public resources are preserved for public use and that the government must protect and manage them for the public’s benefit. We’re not the owners of these lands. We’re the trustees. It’s our social contract, and it’s our responsibility and legitimacy that depends on safeguarding this basic security, and housing is a core need for those asks of our residents.”

Existing condition:

Existing condition of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (HCMA/Archeology/City of Vancouver)

Orr said he felt compelled to “stick to my values” and to the values of some residents who want to see social housing built on City-owned land. He emphasized the scarcity of public land — “once it’s gone, it’s gone forever” — and suggested the absence of firm guarantees on affordability, combined with uncertainties around financing, market conditions, and future City Councils, made him uncomfortable approving a purely market rental project on such a site.

On the other side, ABC city councillor Peter Meiszner said the argument made by Fry and Orr “misses the point” of the initiative, which is to leverage a small number of City-owned sites to generate non-tax revenue that can be used to fund a wide range of public priorities, including community centres, libraries, and affordable housing on other sites.

Core to the disagreements and tensions was that Fry and Orr did not accept the ABC majority’s idea that contributing to and expanding the municipal government’s broader financial capacity to help cover the growing costs of improving community amenities and infrastructure — not just affordable housing — is a public benefit. They also did not share the ABC majority’s goal of moderating the City’s property tax increases, after several consecutive years of substantial hikes.

“We are trustees of this land,” said Meiszner, “and now’s the time to do something with it for the greater good.”

Moreover, the first two projects of Burrard/Pacific/Hornby and Main/Quebec represent a very small percentage of the municipal government’s overall assets under the Property Endowment Fund (PEF) across Vancouver, worth over $6 billion.

ABC councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung echoed arguments she and colleagues made at the Burrard/Pacific/Hornby project’s public hearing, saying residents expect City Council to “pull our socks up” and start actively using under-utilized City land to deliver much-needed housing suitable for working middle-income individuals and families and generate major new public benefits.

Kirby-Yung also rejected Fry’s rigid idea that today’s City Council should try to bind future elected officials, noting that governance and priorities inevitably change over time. “It has always been so, it will always be so,” she said, arguing that the job of the current City Council is to make the best decisions it can with the information and tools available now.

Existing condition:

Existing condition of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (HCMA/Archeology/City of Vancouver)

Fry, Orr, OneCity city councillor Lucy Maloney, and Vote Vancouver city councillor Rebecca Bligh also butt heads with the ABC majority during a public hearing in October 2025 over VHDO’s proposal to create a City-owned, for-profit real estate development company — technically called a Government Business Enterprise (GBE) — to oversee the six market rental housing projects.

In that October 2025 decision, the non-ABC city councillors voiced many of the exact same arguments and concerns, and were able to override the ABC majority to reject VHDO’s proposal to create the GBE. Such a decision, involving the City selling the six properties to the new City-owned company, required a two-thirds majority approval in the chamber.

The creation of the arms-length, City-owned company would have enabled the municipal government to reduce its risk further and separately borrow money to help cover a portion of the construction financing needed — without impacting the City’s main credit ratings and debt levels.

Without the GBE, the road ahead with implementing these City-owned projects is highly uncertain, with City staff also previously noting that other potential avenues provide the municipal government with a smaller return.

If both projects, totalling over 1,800 units, were to become 100 per cent affordable housing, the public funding they would require to cover the significant construction costs and degree of below-market rents would “cannibalize” the provincial government’s available B.C.-wide funding programs for years, according to City staff during last week’s public hearing. Moreover, setting any proportion of the units at below-market rents would require financial support from senior governments.

According to VHDO, the Burrard/Pacific/Hornby project will provide the City with over $1 billion in rental income over the first few decades of the lifespan of the complex. Upon the completion of the two mixed-use towers reaching up to 52 storeys and the full occupancy of the 1,089 secured purpose-built market rental homes and retail/restaurant space, the property’s valuation would reach $1.2 billion.

Sometime this year, City Council could also potentially consider VHDO’s third project of redeveloping the 24o0 Motel at 2396-2400 Kingsway and 2441-2493 East 33rd Ave. in the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood. The August 2025-submitted rezoning application calls for four towers up to 28 storeys, containing 863 secured purpose-built market rental homes, neighbourhood-serving retail/restaurant uses, a childcare facility, and a major public plaza and landscaped green space with a pond.

VHDO’s other three sites entail the newly-created City-owned parcels at the north end of the Granville Street Bridge (former footprint of the bridge’s loops), 8324-8486 Granville St. in the Marpole neighbourhood, and 3917-3981 Main St. in the Riley Park-Little Mountain neighbourhood. The major downtown Vancouver project saw its rezoning application approved years ago, before the market-based development was conceived, with the City recently approving an amendment enabling a larger social housing tower for one of the parcels, while the latter two have yet to enter the formal rezoning application stage.

For the Main/Quebec project, the City worked with architectural firms HCMA and Archeology, and landscape architectural firm PWL Partnership.

The project’s height and resulting density are made possible by the 2024 changes made to the citywide protected mountain view cones.

Concept of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (HCMA/Archeology/City of Vancouver)

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