Rental housing and retail set for vacant corner in Vancouver's Punjabi Market

Artistic rendering of 6495 Main Street, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Hudson Projects)

The long-vacant lot at the prominent northwest corner of the intersection of Main Street and East 49th Avenue is set to be finally developed.

The former gas station site at 6495 Main Street is located in the very core of Vancouver’s Punjabi Market, and its redevelopment after well over a decade of sitting empty will help revitalize the cultural district, bringing new activity to the area.

A newly submitted development permit application by local developer Hudson Projects and architectural firm Yamamoto Architecture calls for a six-storey, mixed-use building.

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The upper five levels will be used for 94 secured market rental homes, including 59 studios, 26 two-bedroom units, and nine three-bedroom units. Residents will have access to a fitness gym on the first level, a bookable party room on the second level, and a large outdoor amenity space on the building rooftop.

On the ground level, 8,700 sq ft of commercial space will be divided into up to six units for retail and restaurant uses. This will finally provide the Punjabi Market with a seamless, continuous retail frontage over its three-block stretch along Main Street.

6495 Main Street Vancouver Punjabi Market Rental Housing

Site of Punjabi Market’s former gas station at 6495 Main Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Site of Punjabi Market’s former gas station at 6495 Main Street, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Hudson Projects)

Site of Punjabi Market’s former gas station at 6495 Main Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

The residential lobby, facing East 49th Avenue, will feature a mural designed by local artist Sandeep Johal, who is known for the “Indo-folk feminine aesthetic” in her works.

The building’s total floor area is 67,000 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 3.7 times larger than the size of the 18,100 sq ft lot.

Two underground levels will accommodate 75 vehicle parking stalls and 151 secured bike parking spaces.

The rental housing uses for the location are strategically located within close proximity to Langara College, just two blocks to the west. The post-secondary institution has long-term plans to significantly expand its campus. The large number of studio units in the building is specifically intended to attract tenants who are students and staff.

This project falls under the municipal government’s new C-2 zoning through the Secured Rental Policy, which received final regulatory approval by Vancouver City Council in late 2021. To catalyze and expedite much-needed additional rental housing across the city, the new zoning simplifies four-and six-storey rental buildings in C-2 commercial districts along arterial streets. Such projects no longer require rezoning, and can instead start at the development permit application process.

Artistic rendering of 6495 Main Street, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Hudson Projects)

The site is also well served by major north-south and east-west bus routes, and roughly a 10-minute walk from SkyTrain’s Langara-49th Avenue Station.

Just across the street to the south, the 2019-built, six-storey Bovill Apartments building entails 75 secured market rental homes under the City’s Rental 100 policy, and ground-level commercial space with anchor tenants Tim Hortons and RBC. It was also designed by Yamamoto Architecture, but spearheaded by another developer.

At the southernmost end of Punjabi Market at East 51st Avenue, the former Frontier Cloth House building at 6695 Main Street was recently demolished, after being abandoned for about a decade. It is also eyed for a mixed-use development.

Even further to the south at East 54th Avenue, a mixed-use redevelopment at 7018 Main Street with 124 secured market rental homes and ground-level retail and restaurant space could potentially trigger more redevelopments that effectively form a southward expansion of the Punjabi Market over the long term.

Artistic rendering of 6495 Main Street, Vancouver. (Yamamoto Architecture/Hudson Projects)

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