Telus proposes new Vancouver rental housing towers and childcare for 110 kids | Daily Hive

Telus proposes rental housing towers and childcare for 110 kids in Vancouver's Strathcona neighbourhood

Concept of 730 Raymur Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Telus)

Vancouver-based telecommunications giant Telus has unveiled one of its most significant rental housing projects to date, planned for East Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood.

The company is proposing to redevelop its storage facility at the northeast corner of the intersection of Union Street and Raymur Avenue — just north of Strathcona Park and immediately west of Canadian National’s trunk railway serving Burrard Inlet port facilities.

The 1.4-acre site, located at 730 Raymur Ave. within an industrial pocket of Strathcona, is currently occupied by a 45,000-sq.-ft. warehouse built in 1966.

Although this is currently an industrial site, immediately to the west is a major social housing complex, and to the south there is a seniors’ care home.

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The mixed-use project is being advanced by Telus Living, the company’s major real estate division focused on redeveloping numerous surplus and under-utilized properties. This strategy reflects the reduced spatial requirements resulting from the company’s transition from copper-based to fibre-optic telecommunications infrastructure.

To date, many Telus Living projects have involved repurposing former telecommunications exchange utility buildings, often incorporating smaller on-site utility components with fibre optics. However, because the Strathcona site is a warehouse, the proposal does not include a telecommunications utility element.

For this particular site, the company is aiming to achieve market rental housing as the project’s sole residential typology.

Site of 730 Raymur Ave., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Site of 730 Raymur Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Telus Living)

Existing condition:

Site of 730 Raymur Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Telus Living)

Site of 730 Raymur Ave., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept of 730 Raymur Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Telus Living)

According to the newly submitted rezoning application, the development — designed by architectural firm Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership, with landscape architecture by PFS Studio — would feature two towers of 22 and 25 storeys, reaching up to 277 ft.

Retail/restaurant space, non-profit arts/culture space, and childcare for 110 kids

The towers include a shared three-storey base podium designed to accommodate a mix of major non-residential uses and public benefits.

At ground level, the project would include approximately 4,900 sq. ft. of not-for-profit arts and culture production space as an in-kind community amenity contribution, along with about 8,100 sq. ft. of retail and restaurant space serving the local area.

Instead of extra interior building floor area, a central feature of the design is a carved-out mid-block outdoor courtyard within the base podium fronting Raymur Avenue, creating a privately owned, publicly accessible open space. Activated by storefronts, patios, and other uses, the courtyard is intended to serve as a community focal point.

Concept of 730 Raymur Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Telus Living)

There would be public art opportunities within the courtyard and the building’s eastern frontage facing the railway.

The courtyard would also provide access to a sizeable childcare facility on the second level, featuring both a prominent outdoor spiral staircase and an indoor lobby with elevator access from the ground floor. The childcare facility would offer 10,400 sq. ft. of indoor space for up to 110 children, plus extensive outdoor play areas on the wrap-around lower rooftop above the arts and culture space.

Rental housing suitable for St. Paul’s Hospital workers

Above these non-residential uses, there would be 436 secured purpose-built market rental homes, with a unit size mix of 71 studios, 171 one-bedroom units, 152 two-bedroom units, and 42 three-bedroom units. Residents would have access to 14,600 sq. ft. of shared indoor and outdoor amenity spaces on the second level.

“The Strathcona redevelopment represents what TELUS Living stands for — purpose-built rental housing tailored to the specific needs of the community it serves. We’ve designed this project with Strathcona’s unique character in mind that includes on-site childcare and a dedicated arts space, recognizing what matters most to residents,” said Manasweeta Bhatia, vice president of real estate and business continuity for Telus, in a statement to Daily Hive Urbanized upon inquiry.

Concept of 730 Raymur Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Telus Living)

She also suggested that the rental homes would be ideal for the healthcare workers of the new St. Paul’s Hospital campus, located a few blocks just to the west. It will reach completion this summer and open in 2027.

“Every TELUS Living project is customized this way — we don’t believe in one-size-fits-all housing. We listen to communities, understand their needs, and build accordingly, and look forward to engaging further with the community in the coming months as our application goes through the City’s review process,” continued Bhatia.

This proposal is coming to light just weeks after Vancouver City Council rejected an application by local developer Westbank, investment firm Promerita, and the provincial government through BC Housing to build the “East Village” three-tower complex a few blocks to the north on East Hastings Street. Reaching up to 39 storeys, that other proposal envisioned 767 secured purpose-built market rental homes and 157 social housing units, along with ground-level retail/restaurant uses.

Opponents of the Westbank-led project — including many local residents — raised concerns about the proposed tower heights, overall density, limited community amenities and public benefits, and the further concentration of social housing in the area. There were also some concerns with placing the project’s two tallest towers next to the same busy railway.

Concept of 730 Raymur Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Telus Living)

According to the proponents of Telus Living’s Strathcona project, their package of public benefits intends to meet the needs of the area, such as the immense shortage of childcare space for working families within and near the neighbourhood.

This level of density through verticality is also necessary to create a financially and economically feasible project that also provides public benefits.

“At this scale a market rental project is economically viable and is able to contribute an alternative public benefit, which is proposed as a not-forprofit arts and culture production space,” reads the application.

“The project helps meet Vancouver’s urgent demand for rental supply while strengthening social resilience, without straining existing community services.”

This is one of the first sizeable applications to be considered under the framework, process, and policies of the newly enacted Vancouver Official Development Plan (ODP), necessitating an amendment to that plan in addition to the rezoning.

The total building floor area would reach about 367,000 sq. ft., establishing a floor area ratio (FAR) of 6.0 — meaning the combined interior floor area of the building is six times larger than the land area it sits on.

Two-and-a-half levels — the eastern half of the ground level, plus two underground levels — would accommodate 279 vehicle parking stalls, including 31 spaces for the retail/restaurant uses, arts and culture space, and childcare facility. There would also be 848 secured bike parking spaces. The site is situated on the Union/Adanac Bikeway.

Telus Living has a number of other projects within Vancouver, including the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood proposal at 354-380 East 10th Ave. At this site, a large outdated telecommunications exchange utility building would be replaced by a 26-storey tower with 230 secured purpose-built rental homes, over 11,000 sq. ft. of office space, about 5,600 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space, and a new attached four-storey utility building with fibre optics infrastructure. Excess heat from the new utility building would be used to provide the heating needs of the new tower.

In March 2026, City Council approved Telus Living’s Kitsilano proposal at 2022-2212 West 10th Ave., where an old utility building will be redeveloped into a 25-storey tower with 221 secured purpose-built rental homes and a small replacement utility building with the latest technology and a similar waste heat recovery system.

As well, the company has a new application to turn the old utility building at 3696 Kingsway — immediately west of Boundary Road and Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium — into a 25-storey tower with 233 secured purpose-built rental homes, retail/restaurant space, and a two-storey replacement telecommunications facility with waste heat recovery.

Construction is underway on the company’s five-storey building with 55 secured purpose-built rental homes and retail/restaurant uses at 2608 Tolmie St. in the West Point Grey neighbourhood. This is also a redevelopment of a utility building, but the redevelopment will not have replacement infrastructure.

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 dozens of active proposals by Telus across the province, which would generate a combined total of over 3,000 homes if fully achieved.

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

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

2022-2212 West 10th Avenue Vancouver Kitsilano Telus Tower

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

2608 tolmie street vancouver telus living rental housing

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

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