TransLink planning massive redevelopment of Coquitlam Central Station park and ride

A major mixed-use development could rise from the vast paved asphalt lot next to Coquitlam Central Station, which is served by SkyTrain Millennium Line, West Coast Express, and a key bus exchange for the Tri-Cities.

TransLink is eyeing a redevelopment of the park-and-ride facility and bus loop that currently serves Coquitlam Central Station — a site spanning 9.3 acres at the southwest corner of the intersection of Lougheed Highway and Barnet Highway, just south of Coquitlam Centre mall.

With its lot acreage and capacity for over 1,100 vehicles, it is one of TransLink’s largest park-and-ride facilities. The daily rate to use this lot is currently $3.00.

This week, the public transit authority kicked off the bidding process seeking a design consultant contractor to create a master plan for the site’s development. The current Request For Expression Of Interest (RFEOI) stage will end in early January 2023, which will lead to the selection of a shortlist of teams to participate in the detailed bidding phase of Request For Proposals (RFP).

You might also like:
• TransLink to launch new for-profit real estate development arm
• Coquitlam approves downtown plan with office, retail, and 24,000 more residents
• New renderings of massive redevelopment next to Coquitlam Central SkyTrain
• City of Port Coquitlam to launch feasibility study on SkyTrain extension
• Big expansion needed for West Coast Express commuter rail, says advocacy group

“TransLink has issued a RFEOI to begin engaging with external firms to develop a Comprehensive Community Plan for a potential redevelopment at Coquitlam Central Station,” TransLink told Daily Hive Urbanized in an email.

“This potential redevelopment is still in its early stages and this first step will allow us to explore the viability of the site.”

Site of the park-and-ride and bus exchange facilities for Coquitlam Central Station. (Google Maps)

The park-and-ride facility serving Coquitlam Central Station. (Google Maps)

The bus loop serving Coquitlam Central Station. (Google Maps)

The public transit authority noted the redevelopment of Coquitlam Central Station will be one of the first projects under TransLink’s new Real Estate Development Program, which was announced this past summer as a for-profit business division of building residential, commercial, and mixed-use developments. This would serve to not only increase the region’s housing supply and catalyze economic growth but also provide TransLink with a new additional revenue stream to support its public transit operations and expansion projects.

Furthermore, major transit-oriented developments under the program, such as Coquitlam Central Station, would also serve to help increase ridership.

Few details are available at this time, but the RFEOI notes the Coquitlam Central Station redevelopment will be a “significant neighbourhood” with the “creation of a mobility hub.”

“The outcomes of this work will inform subsequent phases of development planning and integration with transit services,” reads the RFEOI.

While there are few project-specific details, the City of Coquitlam’s City Centre Area Plan (CCAP), approved by Coquitlam City Council in November 2020, provides a framework for what is possible for the area around Coquitlam Central Station.

The CCAP calls for a mixed-use office business district with standalone office buildings, with “mixed-use” also opening up immense potential for supplemental residential uses. Coquitlam Central Station or what is known as the “Pinetree-Lougheed Precinct” is one of the three transit-oriented development areas targeted by the CCAP for significant new density — both commercial and residential uses — to anchor the emergence of downtown Coquitlam.

Conceptual artistic rendering of the Pinetree-Lougheed Precinct next to Coquitlam Central Station, as outlined within the 2020-approved City Centre Area Plan. (City of Coquitlam)

Other components for the precinct include a north-south pedestrian overpass above Barnet Highway linking the transit hub with Coquitlam Centre mall to the north and an east-west overpass above Lougheed Highway linking with the Christmas Way site to the east. There would also be a multi-modal mobility hub at Coquitlam Central Station, according to the CCAP.

Marcon Developments and Quadreal Property Group’s “TriCity Central” project to redevelop the 11.6-acre Christmas Way site — part of the CCAP’s Pinetree-Lougheed Precinct — also likely sets precedent for what can be achieved on TransLink’s Coquitlam Central Station site. They are planning nine towers up to about 60 storeys, containing 1,000 rental homes and 3,000 condominium homes, as well as 530,000 sq ft of office space and a 150-room hotel with ballroom/meeting space within a single commercial-only tower. There would also be about 50,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses, including a grocery store, plus a major childcare facility for up to 220 kids.

Altogether, the adjacent TriCity Central redevelopment would provide homes for up to 8,000 people — 6,000 in condominiums, and 2,000 in rentals — and its commercial spaces would employ up to 1,500 people.

2022 artistic rendering of the TriCity Central redevelopment in Coquitlam, just east of TransLink’s Coquitlam Central Station lot. (Marcon Development/Quadreal Property Group/Perkins & Will)

2022 artistic rendering of the TriCity Central redevelopment in Coquitlam, just east of TransLink’s Coquitlam Central Station lot. (Marcon Development/Quadreal Property Group/Perkins & Will)

Artistic rendering of the Coquitlam Centre mal; redevelopment. (Morguard Investments)

The TriCity Central redevelopment also specifically fulfills the Pinetree-Lougheed Precinct’s requirement of catalyzing at least one hotel with ballroom/meeting space for the area, and the fulfilment of the east-west pedestrian bridge above Lougheed Highway.

To the north of the transit hub, the owners of Coquitlam Centre mall are also planning a significant redevelopment of the shopping centre into a mixed-use district, starting with the development of the surface parking closest to Lincoln Station.

The assessed value of TransLink’s Coquitlam Central Station site has grown exponentially since the late 2016 opening of the SkyTrain station as part of the Millennium Line’s Evergreen Extension.

According to BC Assessment, the assessed value of TransLink’s site was $21.7 million as of July 2016. It grew to $59 million in July 2018, $97.3 million in July 2020, and $132.4 million in July 2021. The assessed value grew significantly during the densification planning process of the CCAP, and immediately following the plan’s full approval.

According to TransLink, Coquitlam Central Station saw 1.54 million SkyTrain boardings in 2019, making it the 37th busiest station out of 53 SkyTrain stations across the network. It saw averages of 4,800 boardings per weekday, 3,570 per Saturday, and 2,570 per Sunday/holiday.

For West Coast Express ridership, Coquitlam Central Station is the second busiest station for the commuter rail service, with 310,000 boardings recorded in 2019 — an average of 1,240 per weekday.

The station is also served by over 20 bus routes, including its use as the westernmost terminus of the R3 Lougheed Highway RapidBus to Maple Ridge.

SkyTrain Coquitlam Central Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

West Coast Express commuter rail at Coquitlam Central Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)