Construction starts on Western Canada's tallest rental housing tower in Brentwood | Daily Hive

Construction begins on Western Canada's tallest rental housing tower in Burnaby's Brentwood district

Construction progress on the first phase of Brentwood Block, as of June 4, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

Immediately southeast of SkyTrain’s Brentwood Town Centre Station, excavation is now well underway for the first phase of the Brentwood Block mixed-use residential and commercial development.

More specifically, work on the first phase is underway on the western half of the eight-acre site of 4612 Lougheed Highway and 2040-2150 Alpha Ave. — framed by Lougheed Highway to the north, Alpha Avenue to the west, Dawson Street to the south, and Beta Avenue to the east, replacing a car dealership, parking lots, and a low-rise office building.

Brentwood Block is international developer Grosvenor’s largest project in Metro Vancouver to date, and one of the largest to date within Burnaby’s Brentwood district.

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The first phase alone entails a 41-storey strata market ownership condominium tower and two secured purpose-built rental housing towers. Altogether, these initial three towers will generate 1,731 homes, including 1,280 rental homes and 451 condominium homes.

In fact, the tallest tower in this phase is one of the rental housing towers — a 630-ft-tall, 60-storey tower at the southeast corner of the intersection of Lougheed Highway and Alpha Avenue. If this rental housing tower existed today, it would be Metro Vancouver’s third tallest building — just behind the neraby newly-built Two Gilmore Place and downtown Vancouver’s Living Shangri-La.

This will be Western Canada’s tallest rental housing tower, where rental housing is the only housing tenure type for the residential component. It also exceeds the tallest future rental housing towers at the Oakridge Park and Senakw projects in Vancouver.

Despite the challenging economic fundamentals and cost conditions, Grosvenor has pulled the triggered on starting construction on the first phase, driven by their expectation of long-term housing demand in the region, the relatively strong pre-sales to date for the first phase’s condominium component, and the developer’s confidence in the Brentwood area.

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Concept of Brentwood Block. (Perkins&Will/Grosvenor)

Concept of Brentwood Block. (Perkins&Will/Grosvenor)

As of the end of May 2025, 30 per cent or well over 100 of the 451 condominium homes have already been sold.

It is also noted by the developer that Brentwood Block is a $1.5-billion joint venture-backed investment with Westerkirk Capital and a Canadian pension fund.

“We have a uniquely long-term perspective, and as a company we’ve seen many cycles and moments of uncertainty. One of the reasons we have been in business as long as we have is our conviction and conscious decision to place our efforts into a select number of special developments. Our region needs housing, and we still have a structural supply shortage,” Marc Josephson, a Senior Vice President of Grosvenor, told Daily Hive Urbanized.

Moreover, he suggests today’s challenging demand environment — evident in the persistent slowdown in condominium sales — will look very different toward the end of this decade, when the project reaches completion, given the cyclical nature of the market.

Brentwood Block is aiming to help meet the future demand expected as other developers delay or postpone their projects, resulting in an overall shortage of supply further down the road.

“There is still a structural supply issue in Vancouver over the longer term. Population growth will resume, people want to live in Vancouver, and the demand hasn’t gone away — it’s on the sidelines waiting for more stability,” continued Josephson.

“Long term, we know there’s still a great need for housing of all types — condo and rental. And it will be nuanced as not all sites, locations, and developments are the same. Over the last few months and years, there has obviously been volatility, with changes up and down in areas that our industry watches closely. But if you’re able to see what’s happening today in the broader context, you can also see that with the many examples of many projects stalling or not moving forward right now, one could anticipate insufficient supply to meet the growing demand in a number of years. Things don’t stay exactly as they are today.”

Concept of Brentwood Block. (Perkins&Will/Grosvenor)

There will also be substantial commercial space at Brentwood Block, largely focused within the first phase, with such uses planned for the lower levels of all three towers.

The entire eight-acre development site — encompassing both the first and second phases — will not include any internal roadways for vehicles. All underground parking will be accessed from public roads along the site’s perimeter. This design enables the creation of a pedestrian-oriented public realm, featuring plazas and wide pathways activated by retail, restaurants, and patios. Extensive landscaping is also planned to enhance these public spaces.

The first phase alone will include 160,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, anchored by a 44,000 sq. ft. grocery store.

Josephson says Brentwood Block will be the first large-scale, pedestrian-only development in the region, and highlighted that over half the site area is dedicated public realm. He asserts the “retail experience will feel unlike anything else in the region.”

Another key component of the first phase is a major public community centre, which Grosvenor has designed and will build on behalf of the City of Burnaby.

The $146-million Brentwood Community Centre will be situated at the south side of Brentwood Block, fully integrated into the development. It will be a multi-storey, 106,000 sq. ft. building with a fitness gym, gymnasium, running track, multi-purpose rooms, indoor play areas, and an outdoor rooftop space.

2024 artistic rendering of Brentwood Block’s towers (background) and Brentwood Community Centre (foreground) in Burnaby. (Perkins&Will/Grosvenor)

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2024 artistic rendering of Brentwood Community Centre at Brentwood Block in Burnaby. (Perkins&Will/Grosvenor)

Most of the project will be funded by the municipal government’s Community Benefit Bonus Reserve, which was collected from developers in exchange for additional market density. When complete, this turnkey facility will be owned and operated by the municipal government, and it is expected to attract over one million visitors per year.

“The Brentwood Community Centre will be an outstanding community focal point for the entire Brentwood Town Centre, providing much needed space for individuals, families and seniors to gather together and enjoy Burnaby’s fantastic recreation programs,” said Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley in a statement.

“And we’re excited to see this neighbourhood continue to grow with forward thinking, community-oriented developments like Brentwood Block.”

The developer’s substantial retail and restaurant space, along with the City’s community centre, is of course intended not only to serve Brentwood Block itself, but also to support the significant residential growth anticipated across the broader Brentwood district.

All residential, commercial, and community centre components of the first phase are scheduled to reach completion by 2030.

The volume of concrete that will be used to build the first phase alone will be roughly equivalent to the entire annual volume produced by a local Vancouver concrete plant that serves the wider industry. Furthermore, at the peak of construction, about 1,000 workers will be on site.

The second phase — similar in scale and uses — for the eastern half of the site is a few years away from commencing construction.

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Construction progress on the first phase of Brentwood Block, as of June 4, 2025, with the future second phase site of the existing office building (left) also depicted. (Kenneth Chan)

Site plan of the first phase (left) and second phase (right) of Brentwood Block. (Grosvenor)

Grosvenor has been working on this project for nearly a decade; the land assembly acquisition process first began in 2016, with the final parcels bought in early 2020.

The entire Brentwood Block project, including the community centre, is designed by architectural firm Perkins&Will.

Upon the full completion of Brentwood Block, including the second phase, there will be six towers containing approximately 3,500 homes — including 2,450 rental homes — and about 200,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, along with 50,000 sq. ft. of public plazas, pathways, open spaces, and landscaped areas. The project’s total building floor area will span about two million sq. ft.

To prepare for the expected significant public transit ridership growth driven by Brentwood Block, The Amazing Brentwood mall, and other future high-density developments in the area, TransLink recently completed a major capacity expansion and accessibility upgrade of Brentwood Town Centre Station.

While the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension to Arbutus, opening in 2027, does not directly serve Burnaby, the resulting improvements in regional connectivity — not only to Central Broadway, but also to downtown Vancouver, the Cambie Corridor, Richmond, and Vancouver International Airport via convenient transfers to the Canada Line at Broadway–City Hall Station — could further enhance the appeal of living near Burnaby’s high-density, transit-oriented developments around the existing Millennium Line stations.

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Completed upgrades of SkyTrain’s Brentwood Town Centre Station, as seen on March 22, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

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TransLink’s articulated buses for the No. 25 UBC/Brentwood route at SkyTrain’s Brentwood Town Centre Station. (Kenneth Chan)

The Brentwood district — anchored by both Brentwood Town Centre Station and Gilmore Station — is already widely regarded as one of Metro Vancouver’s most successful transit-oriented development hubs, yet there is still much more growth to come.

“In my opinion, the City of Burnaby works hard to understand how development works and to facilitate the creation of housing especially in proximity to transit, which just makes sense,” Josephson told Daily Hive Urbanized when asked.

“We have appreciated our working relationship with them and their ongoing efforts to grow and be a leader in the region.”

Grosvenor’s other current major development project in Metro Vancouver is the 14-acre Mayfair West development, located on West 41st Avenue in Vancouver just west of the new Oakridge Park mall and the Canada Line’s Oakridge-41st Avenue Station. At Mayfair West, situated on TransLink’s former trolley bus depot, buildings up to 26 storeys will generate about 1,600 homes, plus some community-serving retail/restaurant uses.

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