TransLink officially begins construction on its first for-profit building project | Daily Hive

TransLink officially begins construction on its first for-profit building project, in partnership with PCI

Concept of 2096 West Broadway and 2560-2576 Arbutus St., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/PCI Developments/TransLink)

TransLink has officially started construction on its first for-profit building development project, marking a major milestone for the public transit authority’s real estate strategy aimed at generating a new, additional long-term revenue source for Metro Vancouver’s public transit system.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held this morning at the site of 2096 West Broadway and 2560-2576 Arbutus St. in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood.

This development site, replacing low-rise commercial buildings, is situated along the east side of Arbutus Street between West Broadway and West 10th Avenue, adjacent to the Arbutus Greenway, and immediately south of SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station — part of the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension, opening in late 2027.

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This is also effectively among the first tower projects under the City of Vancouver’s Broadway Plan prescriptions and stipulations to reach the construction stage. The tower is expected to reach completion in 2029.

2096 West Broadway 2560 Arbutus Street Vancouver TransLink PCI Developments 1

The combined development site of 2096 West Broadway (northern TransLink parcel) and 2560 Arbutus St. (southern PCI parcel) next to SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station. (TransLink)

Existing condition:

2096 West Broadway 2560 Arbutus Street Vancouver TransLink PCI Developments f

The development site’s northern TransLink parcel at 2096 West Broadway, where Fletchers Fabricare is located. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

2096 West Broadway 2560-2576 Arbutus Street Vancouver translink pci

Concept of 2096 West Broadway and 2560-2576 Arbutus St., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/PCI Developments/TransLink)

The project is a 50-50 partnership with local developer PCI Developments, which is responsible for some of Metro Vancouver’s largest and most successful high-density, mixed-use, transit-oriented developments, such as Marine Gateway (Marine Drive Station), Crossroads (Broadway-City Hall Station), and King George Hub (King George Station). In 2025, a few blocks to the east along West Broadway at the intersection with Granville Street, PCI completed The Stories mixed-use tower, which will include an integrated entrance for South Granville Station. PCI also has a number of other major projects in the development pipeline within the Broadway Plan area and elsewhere in Metro Vancouver.

As for the Broadway-Arbutus tower project now under construction, it will be a 31-storey, mixed-use tower with 256 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 209 market rental units and 47 below-market rental units.

Additionally, within the lower levels of the tower, there will be 9,800 sq. ft. of community space for the Ohel Ya’akov Community Kollel — replacing their existing small nearby location — and 5,200 sq. ft. of ground-level retail/restaurant space.

Fronting West Broadway will be a new public plaza, with the building’s ground-level space facing this place designed to enable a future additional entrance into the subway station. The realization of this second entrance — in addition to the main entrance on the north side of the street — depends on a future decision supported by funding.

Concept of 2096 West Broadway and 2560-2576 Arbutus St., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/PCI Developments/TransLink)

Vancouver-based Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership is the project’s architectural design firm and also designed The Stories.

As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, Vancouver City Council approved the project’s rezoning application in June 2024, and a development permit application was subsequently submitted in October 2024 and fully approved and issued in March 2026.

This project effectively kicks off TransLink’s new Real Estate Development Program, which was first announced in 2022.

Rather than simply selling land it owns near public transit hubs, the public transit authority intends to retain a long-term financial interest in properties that are redeveloped with private developers. The approach is intended to allow TransLink to benefit from increases in the value of transit-oriented developments over time and create a new source of non-tax revenue that can be reinvested into the region’s public transit.

TransLink notes that this model is inspired by strategies already used by major public transit authorities elsewhere in the world, including Hong Kong’s renowned MTR, which has long used real estate development around its stations as a very significant source of ongoing revenue to support the operating and capital costs of one of the world’s most highly regarded subway systems.

The Broadway-Arbutus tower projects effectively mark TransLink’s first step toward applying a similar model in Metro Vancouver, where the public transit authority owns significant amounts of land associated with stations, bus exchanges, and other transportation infrastructure.

Concept of 2096 West Broadway and 2560-2576 Arbutus St., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/PCI Developments/TransLink)

“Today’s groundbreaking is a historic milestone for TransLink,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn in a statement.

“Some of the world’s most successful transit agencies have shown what is possible when transit development and community building go hand in hand. We are bringing that innovative approach to Metro Vancouver by building homes and businesses around transit, while creating a new long-term revenue stream that can be reinvested into our transportation system.”

To date, three other TransLink for-profit development projects are publicly known, but they are all still in the early proposal stages. This includes the mixed-use residential and commercial redevelopment of the 2.2-acre former North Shore bus depot in the City of North Vancouver, a very significant mixed-use, multi-tower redevelopment of the 9.3-acre park-and-ride facility and bus exchange next to SkyTrain’s Coquitlam Central Station, and a five-acre redevelopment at the future core of Newton Centre in partnership with the City of Surrey.

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