6-storey rental building with retail proposed next to Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain

May 10 2023, 5:03 am

A highly transit-oriented development site just one city block east of SkyTrain Commercial-Broadway Station could become a six-storey building.

Local developer Third Space Properties has submitted a rezoning application to redevelop 1926-1978 East Broadway, located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Victoria Drive and East Broadway — next to the Grandview Cut and the area’s Safeway grocery store.

Although the unique triangular-shaped development site is within very close proximity to the regional transit hub (a four-minute walk away), the City’s Grandview-Woodland Community Plan restricts this property to a height of up to six storeys, and the site’s potential is further impacted by the protected mountain view cone emanating from Trout Lake Park.

1926-1978 East Broadway Vancouver

Site of 1926-1978 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

1926-1978 East Broadway Vancouver

Site of 1926-1978 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

1926-1978 East Broadway Vancouver

Artistic rendering of 1928-1978 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Third Space Properties)

This will be a mixed-use building with 77 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 51 market rental units and 26 below-market rental units. In their application, Third Space Properties suggests they are voluntarily setting aside about 33% of the units as more affordable homes, even though they are not required or even incentivized to do so.

“We are foregoing more profitable alternatives and choosing to make a positive social impact in the community,” states their rationale, with a pro forma that shows the average rent of all homes will be $2,520 per month and the average below-market rent will be $1,840 per month. This represents a profit loss of 15% for this project.

The developer suggests there are more lucrative development options for this site that are permissible under the Grandview-Woodland Community Plan, but they are choosing not to proceed with the alternative profitable avenues. This includes a condominium option of 69 strata units with an average home price of $900,000, creating a 14% profit margin, or a 100% market rental housing option of 77 market rate rental units with average rents of $3,000 per month, creating a 2.5% profit margin.

Third Space Properties notes they will have future applications for other properties calling for 100% market uses.

1926-1978 East Broadway Vancouver

Artistic rendering of 1928-1978 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Third Space Properties)

1926-1978 East Broadway Vancouver

Artistic rendering of 1928-1978 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Third Space Properties)

As proposed, the unit size mix of the project is five studio units, 45 one-bedroom units, 19 two-bedroom units, and eight three-bedroom units.

There will also be about 6,300 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses with small-scale retail frontages along East Broadway, including a larger commercial unit at the triangular tip of the building, which opens up to a triangular outdoor patio at the intersection corner. As the artistic renderings suggest, such an attractive, high-profile retail location could be suitable for a cafe or restaurant.

The Central Valley Greenway frames the site to the south, and for this reason the developer envisions the building’s uses to be a “pit stop” for cyclists and families along the regional east-west cycling route.

1926-1978 East Broadway Vancouver

Artistic rendering of 1928-1978 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Third Space Properties)

1926-1978 East Broadway Vancouver

Artistic rendering of 1928-1978 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Third Space Properties)

1926-1978 East Broadway Vancouver

Ground-level uses of 1928-1978 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Third Space Properties)

Two underground levels will provide 88 vehicle parking stalls and 147 secured bike parking spaces.

The total floor area is pegged at about 62,000 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is three times larger than the size of the land assembly lot of 20,600 sq ft. Yamamoto Architecture and Judy Stoyko Landscape Architecture are the project’s design firms.

The former gas station site accounts for most of the footprint of the land assembly. The gas station closed in the early 2000s, and the site has been repurposed as a temporary community garden over the past five years. The other two properties in the land assembly are 1940s-built, single-family houses.

1926-1978 East Broadway Vancouver

Artistic rendering of 1928-1978 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Third Space Properties)

1926-1978 East Broadway Vancouver

Artistic rendering of 1928-1978 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Third Space Properties)

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