Telus begins construction on rental housing building in Point Grey in Vancouver | Daily Hive

Telus begins construction on rental housing building in West Point Grey Village in Vancouver

Concept of 2608 Tolmie St., Vancouver. (Ledcor Property Investments/Telus Living)

Construction is now underway on a new low-rise, mixed-use residential and commercial building in Vancouver’s West Point Grey Village, spearheaded by Telus.

The telecommunications giant owns 2608 Tolmie St. — the lot at the southeast corner of the intersection of West 10th Avenue and Tolmie Street, situated at the westernmost end of the retail village and just south of the former Safeway grocery store site.

For decades, this site was occupied by a critical telecommunications exchange facility built around legacy copper telephone infrastructure. In recent years, Telus has accelerated its transition to fibre-optic technology, which offers dramatically greater capacity and speed while requiring a significantly smaller physical footprint for telecommunications exchange operations.

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With smaller spatial requirements, this has also opened up major redevelopment opportunities by building smaller utility facilities within new mixed-use developments at such sites or consolidating such utilities into brand new modern locations elsewhere. At the Tolmie/10th Avenue site, Telus has chosen the latter approach, as the redevelopment will not incorporate a new replacement small telecommunications exchange utility.

Under the Telus Living portfolio, this will be a five-storey building with a total floor area of 42,300 sq. ft.

There will be 55 secured purpose-built market rental homes on the upper four levels and retail/restaurant units on the ground level, which will enhance the struggling retail village by bringing new residents and customers to the area and increasing its active commercial frontage.

There will also be an underground level with 16 vehicle parking stalls. Telus is working with Ledcor Property Investments to achieve this project.

2608 tolmie street vancouver telus living rental housing

Site of 2608 Tolmie St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Previous condition:

Site of 2608 Tolmie St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept of 2608 Tolmie St., Vancouver. (Ledcor Property Investments/Telus Living)

Residents will benefit from Telus’ smart home technology along with a range of shared amenity spaces, including co-working and study areas, as well as indoor and outdoor lounges. Located near the University of British Columbia campus, the site is just a short bus ride away and steps from bus stops served by the 99 B-Line and several local bus routes, making it an ideal location for students, faculty, and staff.

The development permit application was submitted in January 2025 and approved in July 2025. Some demolition work first began last summer, and the official groundbreaking was held late in Fall 2025.

“We’re honoured to break ground on this transformative project as the Vancouver Point Grey community office redevelopment showcases what’s possible when all levels of government work together with the private sector to address housing needs,” said Manasweeta Bhatia, vice president of real estate and business continuity for Telus, in a statement.

“By repurposing our real estate assets right here in Vancouver, we’re making a meaningful difference in the community by turning technological progress into homes where families and individuals can thrive.”

The retail strip’s gravity of activity shifted slightly in 2023, when the longtime Vancouver Public Library branch in West Point Grey Village relocated about one block west — from its previous home just east of Sasamat Street to the former Scotiabank space just east of the Telus Living development site.

Immediately to the north lies the three-acre former Safeway site, which has remained vacant since the longtime grocery store — the sole anchor business of the retail village — closed and was demolished in 2018. The prolonged vacancy of the site has greatly accelerated the retail village’s decline.

In March 2025, Vancouver City Council approved the rezoning application for 4545-4575 West 10th Ave., enabling a major mixed-use residential and commercial development with two towers — reaching 21 storeys and 19 storeys — with an extensive base podium spanning the site. But municipal records show this project for the former Safeway site by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and BentallGreenOak has yet to proceed to the development permit application submission stage, as of the date of this article’s publication.

This future development on the former Safeway site will contain 571 secured purpose-built rental homes — including 456 market rental units and 114 below-market rental units — and over 41,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space, including a 35,200 sq. ft. new replacement grocery store of an unknown brand and two smaller retail/restaurant units.

4545-4575 West 10th Avenue Vancouver Point Grey Safeway redevelopment June 2024

June 2024 revised concept of the West Point Grey Safeway redevelopment at 4545-4575 West 10th Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/BentallGreenOak/Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada)

As for some of the other known Telus Living projects within Vancouver, the redevelopments of other large and outdated telecommunications exchange utility facilities involve building new smaller replacement utilities on-site, integrated with the new development and uses.

New small utility buildings will be incorporated into the future projects of a 26-storey tower with 230 secured purpose-built rental homes and retail/restaurant uses at 354-380 East 10th Ave. in Mount Pleasant, the 25-storey tower with 221 secured purpose-built rental homes at 2022-2212 West 10th Ave. in Kitsilano, and the six-storey building with 116 secured purpose-built rental homes at 6486 Chester St. in Sunset.

Through Telus Living, the telecommunications firm is looking to build over 4,000 new homes across B.C., plus new commercial and industrial developments. Currently, there are a total of 18 active proposals by Telus across the province, which would generate a combined total of over 3,000 homes if fully achieved.

In early 2026, Telus Living projects under construction will reach completion in Nanaimo and Sechelt, adding a combined total of 254 secured purpose-built rental homes.

The transition from copper to fibre-optic infrastructure has created significant real estate development opportunities for the company, while simultaneously maintaining, strengthening, and enhancing the capacity and reliability of its core business. Fibre-optic links can deliver more than 1,000 times the bandwidth of copper and transmit signals over distances more than 100 times greater. A single fibre strand — about half the width of a human hair — can carry roughly one million simultaneous phone calls or the equivalent volume of internet data at any given time.

354-380 East 10th Avenue Vancouver tower Telus Living Central Office

Concept of 354-380 East 10th Ave., Vancouver. (Arcadis/Telus Living)

2022-2212 West 10th Avenue Vancouver Kitsilano Telus Tower

Concept of 2022-2212 West 10th Ave., Vancouver. (DYS Architecture/Ledcor Property Investments/Telus Living)

Concept of 6486 Chester St., Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Telus Living)

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