Proposed rental tower prevents future Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain expansion | Daily Hive

Proposed rental housing tower prevents potential future Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station expansion

Concept of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver, with the Safeway redevelopment also depicted. (DA Architects + Planners/Siddoo Properties)

Nearly seven years ago, TransLink completed and opened a fifth platform at SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station, adding an outer platform for the Expo Line’s inbound direction toward downtown Vancouver.

To make this possible, TransLink worked with the owners of the Safeway store to slightly reduce the grocery store’s footprint, creating the space needed for a larger concourse, the new platform, and a second pedestrian bridge over East Broadway.

Completed in early 2019, this expansion allows passengers to board and disembark from both sides of the train.

Its benefits became especially clear during the recent escalator replacement project, as it helped mitigate major accessibility and capacity challenges. For a station that serves as a critical interchange between two SkyTrain lines — one of the busiest transit hubs in Western Canada — the expansion has provided vital resilience and redundancy.

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This success naturally raises the question: could the station see another similar expansion in the future? This is referred to as the “Spanish Solution” of providing two platforms on either side of a track.

A mirrored project on the outbound direction of the Expo Line, toward Surrey and Production Way–University Station, would add a sixth platform and a third pedestrian bridge over East Broadway.

Currently, a service laneway to the west of the Expo Line platforms conceivably provides the physical space to make such an expansion relatively feasible — likely easier than the Safeway modifications required on the east side.

Cross-section diagram of the 2019-built additional outer platform for the Expo Line’s inbound direction at SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station. (TransLink)

2018 installation of SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station’s second pedestrian overpass above East Broadway, linking the Expo Line’s additional outer inbound platform on the south side of the street with the Millennium Line platforms on the north side. (TransLink)

Passengers waiting on the Expo Line’s outer inbound platform at SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenneth Chan)

skytrain commercial broadway station mark v

Mark V train seen on the Expo Line’s outer inbound platform at SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenneth Chan)

In 2018, as previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, TransLink acquired the low-rise, red-brick commercial and office buildings at the northeast corner of the prominent intersection of Commercial Drive and East Broadway, known as The Hub — home to businesses such as A&W, Tim Hortons, Megabite Pizza, and Shoppers Drug Mart.

This was a highly strategic property purchase with a purpose to generate leasing revenue and retain future transit-oriented development opportunities and flexible new configurations for the public transit hub’s growth over the long term, such as the footprint needed for the northern end of a third pedestrian bridge that directly links to an additional outer platform.

However, prospects for such a future station expansion may now be slipping away due to private development on the south side. The existing laneway is a part of the private property.

A new redevelopment proposal for the southeast corner of the same intersection would eliminate the open laneway footprint needed to achieve such a project. This entire site of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, formerly home to a CIBC branch, is now eyed for a mixed-use tower.

The proposal, from local developer Siddoo Properties, makes no provision for setbacks or rights-of-way that could preserve options for such a station expansion 10, 20, or even 30 years down the line, when ridership and transfers between the Expo and Millennium lines at this particular station are expected to grow even further — especially once the Millennium Line is extended to Arbutus, and eventually the University of British Columbia. Furthermore, the area around Commercial-Broadway Station is expected to see significant densification over the coming years, which will add to the demand.

It should be noted that TransLink has no stated intent to pursue such a natural westward expansion of the station, but this proposed tower would physically impede that very possibility.

2516 Commercial DrIve 1704 East Broadway Vancouver rental housing tower

Existing condition of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver, with the laneway on the private property also shown. (Google Maps)

Site of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver. (DA Architects + Planners/Siddoo Properties)

Concept of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver, with the Safeway redevelopment also depicted. (DA Architects + Planners/Siddoo Properties)

Concept of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver. (DA Architects + Planners/Siddoo Properties)

The new rezoning application for this 11,800 sq. ft. corner lot calls for a 336-ft-tall, 31-storey tower.

There will be 207 secured purpose-built market rental homes, with about 79 of these units with two or more bedrooms, sized for families.

Even without providing a right-of-way space for a future SkyTrain station expansion, this is a tight development site. The building’s width on East Broadway will be just under 74 ft., while the frontage on Commercial Drive will be 140 ft.

For the project’s only commercial uses, there will be a single 1,600 sq. ft. retail/restaurant unit fronting East Broadway. The building’s Commercial Drive street frontage will be almost entirely dedicated to the entrances for the lobbies to the rental housing and a community space, and an elevator to the secured bike parkade.

Existing condition:

Existing condition of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver, with the Safeway redevelopment also depicted. (DA Architects + Planners/Siddoo Properties)

Ground level floor plan; concept of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver, with the Safeway redevelopment also depicted. (DA Architects + Planners/Siddoo Properties)

Concept of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver. (DA Architects + Planners/Siddoo Properties)

Compounded by the constraints of a small site, the potential active commercial uses for the ground level are further limited by underground vehicle parking, as it necessitates setting aside a substantial portion of the ground level for a parkade ramp.

This project offers four underground levels, with P1 mostly for building systems, P2 and P3 for 23 vehicle parking stalls, and P4 for 485 secured bike parking spaces. Under the provincial government’s Transit-Oriented Area (TOA) legislation, there are no minimum vehicle parking requirements for general residential uses, but there are still some minor requirements for accessible parking. The vehicle parking supply provided serves both residential accessible and visitor needs.

Within the third and fourth levels of the building’s base podium, there will be over 19,000 sq. ft. of community space, which is proposed to be long-term leased to the City of Vancouver as a public amenity. This is being offered in lieu of setting aside a portion of the rental housing at below-market rates.

Concept of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver, with the Safeway redevelopment also depicted. (DA Architects + Planners/Siddoo Properties)

Residents will have access to various shared indoor and outdoor amenity spaces within both the base podium and the tower rooftop.

Overall, the total building floor area will reach about 174,100 sq. ft., establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 14.75 times larger than the land area. DA Architects + Planners is the project’s design firm.

The proponents emphasize that the proposed height and density align with both the new TOA legislation and recent amendments to the City’s Grandview-Woodland Community Plan, which allow greater scale around Commercial-Broadway Station. They also note that the recently approved redevelopment of the adjacent Safeway site sets a new precedent for high-rise density in the area.

All of these factors also similarly encouraged Third Space Properties to drastically increase the size of their proposed mixed-use rental housing redevelopment for 1926-1978 East Broadway — from the original 2023 proposal for a six-storey building to a newly revised 2025 proposal for a 33-storey tower. This site is just east of the Safeway parking lot.

Concept of 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, Vancouver. (DA Architects + Planners/Siddoo Properties)

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