Vancouver City Council approves 180 rental homes at Renfrew SkyTrain

2021 revised design: artistic rendering of 2406-2484 Renfrew Street, Vancouver. (Studio One Architecture/Epta Development Corporation)

More transit-oriented rental housing will be coming to SkyTrain Renfrew Station in East Vancouver.

Last week, Vancouver City Council approved the rezoning application for 2406-2484 Renfrew Street — the northeast corner of the intersection of East Broadway and Renfrew Street, next to frequent bus routes and a five-minute walk from the SkyTrain station.

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The decision was unanimous, with TEAM councillor Colleen Hardwick abstaining, and Mayor Kennedy Stewart absent from the vote.

The land assembly on the sloped site of six old single-family homes and a single-storey office building will be redeveloped by Epta Development Corporation into 171-ft-tall, 15-storey tower on the southern half of the site, and a six-storey building on the northern half.

Site of 2406-2484 Renfrew Street, Vancouver. (Studio One Architecture/Epta Development Corporation)

Site of 2406-2484 Renfrew Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

There will be a total of 180 rental homes, including 144 market units and 36 moderate income units under the city’s Moderate Income Rental Housing Pilot Program (MIRHPP).

Under the MIRHPP, all residential space in the project must be secured rental housing, with at least 20% of the residential floor area designated for moderate income households earning between $30,000 and $80,000 annually.

MIRHPP units will see average starting monthly rents of $950 for a studio, $1,200 for a one-bedroom unit, $1,600 for a two-bedroom unit, and $2,000 for a three-bedroom unit. In contrast, the average market rents in newly-built secured market rental housing buildings in the Vancouver Eastside are 50% to 66% higher.

2406-2484 Renfrew Street Vancouver revised

2021 revised design: artistic rendering of 2406-2484 Renfrew Street, Vancouver. (Studio One Architecture/Epta Development Corporation)

“I’m going to go for this because I don’t think it’s going to gentrify the area. It’s in a good spot, close to jobs and transit. At least we’re getting some affordability, even though it’s only 20% [of the units],” said COPE councillor Jean Swanson.

Green Party councillor Adriane Carr commented that MIRHPP is the only rental housing framework by the city that deals with vacancy control and affordability, with the affordable rate of rents controlled and protected regardless of tenant turnover. She says the city was surprised but happy to see the volume of applications it received under the program after city council made a decision to extend the intake duration of the pilot program.

The unit size mix is 47 studios, 71 one-bedroom units, 57 two-bedroom units, and five three-bedroom units. Residents will have access to various common amenity spaces, including indoor spaces on the ground level of both buildings, an outdoor amenity space on the rooftop of the six-storey building, and both indoor and outdoor amenity spaces on the tower rooftop.

There will also be over 7,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant space within the ground level of the tower, split into three commercial units.

2021 revised design: artistic rendering of 2406-2484 Renfrew Street, Vancouver. (Studio One Architecture/Epta Development Corporation)

When the rezoning application was first submitted in late 2020, the proposal called for a 145-ft-tall, 12-storey tower attached to the six-storey building as a podium. But after receiving input from the city’s Urban Design Panel and city staff, a revised design was submitted in October 2021, which physically split the tower and six-storey building to create a courtyard that doubles as a mid-block pedestrian connection between Renfrew Street and a laneway. The total floor area was not reduced to achieve the courtyard; the tower saw the addition of two floors and larger floor plates for each floor, and the approved design has seven additional rental homes compared to the original proposed design. The overall concept and design, created by Studio One Architecture, has also been streamlined.

Original design in the initial rezoning application:

Artistic rendering of 2406-2484 Renfrew Street, Vancouver. (Studio One Architecture/Epta Development Corporation)

Revised design in the updated rezoning application:

2021 revised design: artistic rendering of 2406-2484 Renfrew Street, Vancouver. (Studio One Architecture/Epta Development Corporation)

The approved total floor area is about 144,000 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 4.1 times larger than the size of the 35,300 sq ft lot.

Two underground levels will provide 124 vehicle parking stalls and 340 secured bike parking spaces.

Just to the south, closer to Renfrew Station, construction is currently well underway on the city’s first rental housing project under MIRHPP. In late 2019, The Molnar Group received its rezoning approval from city council for its plan to redevelop 2603-2655 Renfrew Street and 2543-2583 Renfrew Street into 185 secured rental homes — 148 market units and 37 below-market units — plus retail and restaurant spaces along the entire ground level, effectively activating Renfrew Street. Construction on Renfrew Apartments, the name of the two-building complex, is expected to reach completion in 2023.

In late March 2022, city council approved the planning process for the Rupert and Renfrew Station Area Plan, which will densify hundreds of acres framed by Nanaimo Street to the west, 1st Avenue to the north, Boundary Road to the east, and 22nd Avenue to the south. More housing and employment density will be added to this area through a similar planning process that led to area plans such as the Grandview-Woodland Plan and Cambie Corridor Plan.

2021 revised design: artistic rendering of 2406-2484 Renfrew Street, Vancouver. (Studio One Architecture/Epta Development Corporation)

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