East Broadway Safeway proposal faces Vancouver City Council vote on Thursday | Daily Hive

After 10 years, East Broadway Safeway redevelopment proposal finally faces Vancouver City Council decision on Thursday

May 2024 concept: redevelopment of Safeway at 1780 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Perkins&Will/Westbank/Crombie REIT)

Given the expected lengthy list of public speakers, just one rezoning application is scheduled for review, deliberation, and potential approval during the public hearing with Vancouver City Council on Thursday, May 15, 2025.

And this is the project — proposed by Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and local developer Westbank — for the high-density, mixed-use redevelopment of the Safeway grocery store at 1780 East Broadway, which sits on a 2.4-acre lot immediately adjacent to SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station.

The plan calls for 1,044 secured purpose-built rental homes, more than 100 of which would be permanently secured below market rates. Approximately 35 per cent of the homes would be sized for families, with two- and three-bedroom layouts.

You might also like:

Maria Howard, CEO of Family Services of Greater Vancouver, emphasized the importance of the project’s focus on families and affordability.

“Access to safe, long-term family-oriented housing is a welcome addition to the Grandview-Woodland community,” said Howard.

“This development takes meaningful steps to address the need for rentals, particularly below-market and family-centred housing, alongside amenities that families of all kinds need to thrive.”

1780 east broadway vancouver commercial broadway

May 2024 concept: redevelopment of Safeway at 1780 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Perkins&Will/Westbank/Crombie REIT)

1780 east broadway vancouve safeway commercial broadway skytrain redevelopment f1

May 2024 concept: redevelopment of Safeway at 1780 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Perkins&Will/Westbank/Crombie REIT)

The redevelopment also includes a new replacement and expanded replacement Safeway grocery store, 24,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space, and a 37-space childcare facility — complete with outdoor play space — that would be gifted to the municipal government for operation by a non-profit provider.

A key feature of the proposal is its integration of public gathering spaces. At street level, a 20,000 sq. ft. programmable plaza would establish a new north-south, mid-block pedestrian route between East Broadway and East 10th Avenue, and create a flexible space for community events, arts, and cultural programming. Another 12,000 sq. ft. of accessible public space would be located on the second level, complete with both grand staircase and elevator access.

The development site is at one of the busiest public transit hubs in Western Canada, and it is expected to become an even more significant hub in 2027 when SkyTrain’s Millennium Line extension to Arbutus opens — growing the importance of Commercial-Broadway Station’s use as a regional interchange between the Expo and Millennium lines.

The project’s concept — designed by architectural firm Perkins&Will — has changed enormously over the years, initially with a focus on strata market ownership condominium housing. Now, the residential composition is 100 per cent secured purpose-built rental housing. Moreover, there is greater density, achieved by taller tower heights reaching 479 ft. with 44 storeys, 417 ft. with 38 storeys, and 404 ft. with 37 storeys. These taller heights are supported by a new emphasis for catalyzing transit-oriented development by the provincial and municipal governments.

1780 east broadway vancouver safeway commercial broadway

May 2024 concept: redevelopment of Safeway at 1780 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Perkins&Will/Westbank/Crombie REIT)

According to the proponents, there has been about a decade of planning and revisions for this proposal prior to the scheduled public hearing, spanning three mayors, three City Councils, and five general managers of urban planning of the City.

As of the time of writing, as a part of the public hearing process, 270 written comments have already been submitted to the City for the consideration by City Council before the meeting date, including 146 comments in support and 124 opposed.

Among those in support include Jody Vanegas, who says this “housing is desperately needed.”

“These towers are in a commercial area right next to a major public transportation hub. It is tiresome that those with single-family homes continually try to block the construction of needed rentals… especially when they don’t displace renters and are in commercial areas. Please vote to approve these towers that add much needed housing, public amenities and green space,” wrote Vanegas, who is a resident of West Point Grey.

Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood resident Jesse Kaltio wrote, “Can we please stop talking about these towers and get them built? My only opposition to the towers is that they are not taller. I am a home owner in the neighbourhood and am fully supportive. This is a major transportation hub and it doesn’t make sense there aren’t towers there.”

Cory Baker, another neighbourhood resident, wrote, “I live one block away. Just get it done. We obviously need housing. Debating this for another ten years won’t solve anything… To think that the debate has resulted in 10 years of an unused asphalt parking lot.”

Local resident Stefan Schmitt wrote, “The addition of these new rental units will ease this [housing] pressure, and will trend things towards making renting in Vancouver something that is within the means of the working class people who are the life-blood of this city. The detractors will say this rezoning will change the character of the neighbourhood. Yes it will, and that’s a good thing; Vancouver is changing — there’s no stopping that — and building an adequate housing supply for all means that the future of Vancouver will be for all people.”

Existing condition of the Safeway grocery store site at 1780 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Fairview neighbourhood resident Drew Lichty expressed support for the project, calling it a “no brainer” given its adjacency to the public transit hub, but lamented that at least 20 per cent of the rental residential floor area should be at below-market rates, instead of the proposed 10 per cent. He also believes there should be more community benefits and amenities.

For many who submitted written comments to City Council in opposition to the proposal, the allocation of just 10 per cent below-market rental housing was expressed as a key point of contention.

“Only 10 per cent of the units in the building will have below-market rent. The other 90 per cent will rent at market rates, which means very expensive. Relieving the developer of the usual requirement to rent at least 20 per cent of the units at below market rates (which is Council policy) is a huge loss for affordability,” said Grandview-Woodland resident Blair Redlin.

Redlin and others also lamented that the proposal is a departure from the prescriptions and stipulations of the City’s 2016-approved Grandview-Woodland Community Plan, which went through an elongated process that was ultimately driven by a “Citizen’s Assembly,” created after some initial backlash to earlier higher-density area plan concepts.

“I was on the Grandview Woodlands Citizens Assembly and we determined and advised the City of a maximum allowable height for this location that was considerably lower than this new application. Density without infrastructure, limited parks in the neighbourhood, building shadow, parking, absence of developer public space contributions all affected our decision. We were unanimously opposed to building heights as proposed in this rezoning application. I remain absolutely opposed,” wrote neighbourhood resident David Bouck.

Grandview-Woodland resident Larissa B. added, “Towers of 37 to 44 storeys have been rejected multiple times by this community, and yet the City seems intent on wearing us down in order to ram this into our community without our consent. As a community member who was on the Citizen’s Assembly, I can tell you that 12 to 24 storeys does not come from our plan either… We accept four to 12 storeys.”

Although this is a secured purpose-built rental housing project, where strata ownership is not involved, she called it an upscale condominium project. “We do not need luxury condos, and we are not downtown. We need below-market or non-market housing that is appropriate for this community, and that follows our actual community plan,” continued Larissa in her submission.

no megatowers at safeway commercial broadway grandview-woodland

A “NO MEGATOWERS at Safeway!” site at the front of a house a few blocks away from the Safeway site next to SkyTrain Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Kitsilano resident Evelyn Jacob wrote, “This development has been a thorn in the side of everyone who loves Vancouver and doesn’t want the City to become a forest of towers.”

Opponents of the project also expressed a desire for a smaller overall development with more below-market rental housing, while simultaneously calling for additional amenities and public benefits funded by the developer — such as a larger public plaza than currently proposed — despite the reduced project scale potentially limiting the revenue needed to support such enhancements.

The latest design concept now under consideration reincorporates a childcare facility, with the developers previously noting that the additional density — achieved through increased building height — makes the inclusion of this amenity financially feasible.

You might also like: