Site preparation ahead of major construction activities is now underway for a future significant secured purpose-built rental housing tower in the Uptown district of New Westminster.

The low-storey commercial building at 616-640 Sixth Street — best known for being the longtime home of a family-operated restaurant called Waffle House — is set to become a 29-storey, mixed-use tower. The location at the southwest corner of the intersection of Sixth Street and Seventh Avenue is adjacent to Royal City Centre shopping mall.

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In Summer 2022, the previous makeup of New Westminster City Council approved local developer PC Urban Properties’ revised rezoning application, which acquired the property and project plans from Orr Development in July 2021.

Site of 616-640 Sixth Street, New Westminster. (Google Maps)

Existing condition:

Site of 616-640 Sixth Street, New Westminster. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Artistic rendering of the revised 2022 rental housing tower design at 616-640 Sixth Street, New Westminster. (IBI Group/PC Urban Properties)

Orr Development previously received the City’s approvals for its 2019 rezoning and 2020 development permit applications for a tower with both strata condominium and rental housing uses. At the time of the project’s previous consideration, there was some controversy over having separate entrances and amenity spaces for condominiums and rental units.

Shortly after its acquisition, PC Urban came back to the City with a revised rezoning application removing all strata residential uses, adding more residential floor area, and turning its overall residential uses into 100% rentals.

There will now be 338 rental homes, including 328 market units and 10 below-market units. Compared to the previous design, this represents an increase of 101 market units and 10 below-market units.

The unit size mix is 58 studios, 160 one-bedroom units, 92 two-bedroom units, and 28 three-bedroom units. Residents will have access to indoor and outdoor amenity spaces, including on the base podium rooftop.

Cancelled 2019 design with condos and rental housing:

Artistic rendering of the previous 2019 tower design at 616-640 Sixth Street, New Westminster, with condo and rental housing uses. (Yamamoto Architecture/Orr Development)

Revised 2022 design with 100% rental housing:

Artistic rendering of the revised 2022 rental housing tower design at 616-640 Sixth Street, New Westminster. (IBI Group/PC Urban Properties)

More floor area was added to the building’s design by retaining its height of 315-ft-tall, with the tower floor plate size growing by 9% from 7,400 sq ft to 8,070 sq ft, and the height of the base podium increasing from three to four storeys.

There will also be 10,400 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses on the ground level activating the building’s frontage with Sixth Street, providing renewed commercial space in Uptown. This includes a 500 sq ft below-market commercial unit.

Four underground levels will accommodate 271 vehicle parking stalls, which represents a 27% reduction compared to what is typically required for a building of this size and its uses.

Artistic rendering of the revised 2022 rental housing tower design at 616-640 Sixth Street, New Westminster. (IBI Group/PC Urban Properties)

It’s coming down in uptown. Captured a last memory of the iconic #waffle house in #newwest #newwestminster #uptown pic.twitter.com/09KfobMfsW

— Richard K (@kishmytweets) March 12, 2023

The reduced vehicle parking is offset by providing 526 secured bike parking spaces, which exceeds City requirements, as well as the provision of five Modo car share vehicles and parking stalls, and Modo memberships for each rental unit, which will be tied to each unit and transferred to new tenants.

Other transportation improvements include upgrades to the nearby Seventh Avenue greenway, and the installation of a real-time digital screen near the building’s main entrance displaying public transit information. The location is well-served by several frequent bus transit routes reaching SkyTrain’s New Westminster Station.

The redevelopment will have a total floor area of about 257,000 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 7.4 times larger than the size of the 34,800 sq ft lot. IBI Group is the architectural firm behind the project’s design.

Construction on the project is expected to reach completion in Spring 2026.

Artistic rendering of the revised 2022 rental housing tower design at 616-640 Sixth Street, New Westminster. (IBI Group/PC Urban Properties)

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• 281 homes in a 34-storey tower coming to New Westminster
• Cemetery planning 30-storey rental housing tower in New Westminster
• 96 affordable rental homes for Black and Indigenous families in New Westminster
• $293 million Douglas College expansion with student housing to be built in New Westminster
• 2,800 homes, mostly rentals, planned for Kingsway near Edmonds SkyTrain