Four towers proposed west of SkyTrain Brentwood Town Centre Station

Site of Brentwood West in Brentwood Town Centre, Burnaby. (Google Maps)

A high-density, mixed-use redevelopment is proposed for the very core of Burnaby’s Brentwood Town Centre district.

The City of Burnaby has outlined an early concept for Brentwood West — a 3.27-acre site at the northwest corner of the prominent intersection of Lougheed Highway and Willingdon Avenue, which entails seven individual parcels occupied by the Petro Canada gas station and several low-storey retail and office buildings.

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This “Brentwood West” site is just west of The Amazing Brentwood mall and SkyTrain Brentwood Town Centre Station.

Four major mixed-use towers are envisioned by the city for these parcels.

Site of Brentwood West in Brentwood Town Centre, Burnaby. (Google Maps)

Site of Brentwood West in Brentwood Town Centre, Burnaby. (City of Burnaby)

Under existing policies in the city’s Brentwood Town Centre Development Plan, the site has a permitted density of a floor area ratio of 14.3 times larger than the size of the lot. That would provide the multi-phase, multi-owner redevelopment with a combined total floor area of over two million sq ft, including potentially a combined total of 1,400 condominiums, market rental homes, and non-market rental homes, and over 600,000 sq ft of office, retail, and restaurant space.

“Given its strategic location within the Brentwood Town Centre, this area’s redevelopment presents a unique opportunity to create not only a transit-oriented development, but an integrated, vibrant, and walkable mixed-use community in the heart of the Brentwood Town Centre,” reads a city staff report.

“It is recognized that redevelopment of this key area requires a concept and vision that delivers not only superior architectural expression, but acts as a model for employment growth, sustainability, urban design, and public amenity for the Brentwood Town Centre.”

Site of Brentwood West in Brentwood Town Centre, Burnaby. (City of Burnaby)

The northernmost parcels of Brentwood West are owned by Bosa Developments, covering the first phase at 4430-4488 Halifax Street at the northwest corner of the site, and the second phase at 1801 Willingdon Avenue at the northeast corner.

The first phase is envisioned as a single condominium tower over a retail and townhouse base, along with an adjoining six-storey non-market rental housing podium. To the east, t he second phase could have a “signature” tower with market rental housing on top of an office and retail podium.

A major public space would be achieved through the second phase by permanently closing a half-block portion of Buchanan Street to Willingdon Avenue for an event-friendly public plaza, with features such as landscaping, seating, weather protection, and cafe and restaurant frontage.

The third phase at 1967 Willingdon Avenue, located at the centre of the site, just south of the public plaza, would entail a “signature” tower with condominiums, market rental homes, and non-market rental homes over an office and retail podium.

The fourth phase replaces the gas station at 1925 Willingdon Avenue, situated at the intersection’s corner. This is planned as a single tower with condominiums, market rental homes, and non-market rental homes over an office and retail podium.

City staff will conduct a public consultation process on this draft vision for the Brentwood West Conceptual Master Plan, which will guide the future rezonings for the site.

The city has indicated it would like to provide Brentwood Town Centre with its own community centre, potentially within or near the district’s core and integrated with an unspecified mixed-use project.

In its five-year, 2022-2026 capital plan approved earlier this year, Burnaby City Council approved $87 million for the new “Willingdon-Brentwood Community Centre,” including $7 million in 2022 to initiate preliminary planning.

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