Big student housing tower planned for vacant lot at Langara SkyTrain station

Major student housing tower planned for vacant lot at SkyTrain Langara-49th Avenue Station

Site of 6428 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Colliers International)

A long-vacant lot, situated immediately north of Langara-49th Avenue Station’s entrance building, that was previously used as a construction staging area for SkyTrain Canada Line has changed hands.

In a bulletin today, Global Education Communities Corporation (GECC), previously known as CIBT Education Group, announced its acquisition of the 15,400 sq ft lot at 6428 Cambie Street (also known as 478-496 West 48th Avenue) — located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Cambie Street and West 48th Avenue.

Colliers International managed the sale. The value of the acquisition was not disclosed. According to BC Assessment, as of July 2022, the property carries an assessed value of $13.27 million.

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GECC is one of BC’s single largest owners and operators of purpose-built student housing, specializing in off-campus properties, and owns private educational institutions such as Sprott Shaw College, Sprott Shaw Language College, and Vancouver International College.

Prior to the pandemic, South Street Development received the municipal government’s approval to build a 10-storey, 64,000 sq ft mixed-use tower with 54 secured purpose-built market rental homes and 1,100 sq ft of retail uses at this vacant lot.

But GECC is indicating it will not be using those approved development plans, as it is instead pursuing a much more ambitious development to provide many more purpose-built student housing beds.

Under the provincial government’s newly approved transit-oriented development (TOD) legislation, GECC is planning to pursue the allowable minimum height limit of 20 storeys — double the height of the previous concept.

6428 Cambie Street 478-496 West 48th Avenue Vancouver GEC Langara 1

Site of 6428 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Colliers International)

Site of 6428 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

With a height of at least 20 storeys, if approved, this would be the new tallest building in the vicinity of Langara-49th Avenue Station — taller than the future 14-storey, mixed-use condominium and retail building immediately east of the station entrance building at 427-477 West 49th Avenue, and the future 10-storey, mixed-use condominium office, and retail building (Marco Polo by Gryphon) to the west at 6409-6487 Cambie Street.

GECC has already begun the planning process to apply for a rezoning requesting higher density. As well, under the TOD legislation, there are no minimum vehicle parking supply requirements for residential uses.

“We are excited to move forward with the Langara development supported by the various incentives, which will reduce the development cost and increase the potential capacity for all GEC projects under development,” said Toby Chu, President, CEO and Chairman of GECC, in a statement.

“We are eager to deploy more projects in response to the high demand for rental properties.”

Cancelled 10-storey concept for 6428 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (HOTSON Architecture/South Street Development Group)

427-477 West 49th Avenue Vancouver Langara Station

Artistic rendering of the 14-storey tower project at 427-477 West 49th Avenue, Vancouver. The cancelled 10-storey tower at 6428 Cambie Street is shown on the left. (Transca Development/GBL Architects)

Artistic rendering of the 10-storey, mixed-use Marco Polo by Gryphon project at 6409-6487 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Gryphon Development)

Up until roughly six years ago, GECC was previously interested in building a student housing tower immediately west of Langara-49th Avenue Station, where it had conceptualized a 12-storey, 63,000 sq ft tower with 220 student beds. However, it cancelled its plans to go forward with the $63 million property acquisition, and instead pivoted to building an 18-storey tower with 475 student beds at 441-475 West 42nd Avenue, which is located just east of Oakridge Park (Oakridge Centre) mall and Oakridge-41st Avenue Station. At the time, it was stated the Oakridge site would provide a larger scale project and better financial returns than the Langara site. The rezoning application for the Oakridge project was approved in early 2021.

In 2023, GEC provided student housing for over 3,200 students at seven locations, which are mostly located within Vancouver’s Cambie Corridor near a SkyTrain station.

This includes the completion of their King Edward student housing building in July 2023, with a new five-storey building east of King Edward Station hosting 188 student beds. To achieve the project at 431 King Edward Avenue, GECC acquired the property and already approved secured purpose-built rental housing development plans from South Street Development.

In November 2023, GECC sold the 11-storey Granville Suites student housing tower at 718 Drake Street, located near the north end of Granville Bridge in downtown Vancouver, for $70 million.

It is now planning to open another student housing location on Kingsway in Vancouver, within a newly built secured purpose-built rental housing building. The Kingsway location is being pursued under GECC’s new additional business model of entering into master leases for five to 10 years to operate newly built rental housing buildings as purpose-built student housing. GECC will have possession of the Kingsway building in May 2024, at which point it will begin to furnish the space into purpose-built student housing with a capacity for 284 students.

Chu told Daily Hive Urbanized they are unable to disclose the precise location of the Kingsway project at this early stage.

gec king edward student housing 431 west king edward avenue vancouver

GEC King Edward student housing (GEC)

Including the Langara project, GECC now has seven future student housing buildings at different stages of development and rezoning. The combined total capacity of these future locations is over 2,300 student beds.

Post-secondary students are one of the primary factors for the heightened demand for general rental housing and purpose-built student housing in Metro Vancouver. The federal government is expected to end 2023 with a new all-time record total for the number of study permits issued.

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