200 beds of student housing to open at King Edward SkyTrain station next year

200 beds of student housing to open at King Edward SkyTrain station in Vancouver in 2023

August 2022 construction progress of GEC King Edward at 431 West King Edward, Vancouver. (CIBT Education Group)

New market rental housing supply specifically dedicated to post-secondary students will open next to SkyTrain King Edward Station in Vancouver next year.

CIBT Education Group announced last week its Global Education City-branded (GEC) student housing building at 431 West King Edward Avenue, located just one block east of the SkyTrain station, will open in time for the Spring 2023 semester.

GEC King Edward will be a four-storey, woodframe building with 48,000 sq ft of floor area, containing 200 student beds. Integra Architecture is the design firm.

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The demand for student housing is so high that the company anticipates the property’s student rental units will be nearly sold out before construction reaches completion in late 2022.

Several schools are entering into lease contracts with GEC, and requesting large blocks of available rental units for their students.

431 West King Edward Avenue Vancouver GEC King Edward

Artistic rendering of GEC King Edward at 431 West King Edward, Vancouver. (CIBT Education Group)

August 2022 construction progress of GEC King Edward at 431 West King Edward, Vancouver. (CIBT Education Group)

To illustrate the current student housing demand, GEC Granville Suites, another CIBT-owned student residence, located at 718 Drake Street in downtown Vancouver, saw its revenues climb to a record high month in July 2022 at $1.27 million — up from the lowest point of the pandemic at $130,000 in September 2021. GEC Granville Suites is an 11-storey tower with 143 units.

“Since Canada’s borders re-opened, the occupancy rate has reached near-full capacity at all GEC locations. Additionally, rental rates have increased significantly, surpassing pre-COVID levels,” states CIBT.

CIBT is the parent company of Sprott Shaw College, and over the last seven years it has grown its GEC-branded, off-campus student housing division to become one of the largest suppliers and operators of post-secondary student housing in Metro Vancouver — the third largest after the on-campus student residence systems of the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU).

Like on-campus residences, GEC student housing units are fully furnished and equipped, and the buildings offer amenities catered for the unique needs of students.

Their real estate portfolio is now comprised of 15 buildings, with 10 buildings accommodating over 1,000 student tenants at any point in time. The remaining five properties are at different stages of planning, permitting or construction.

Not included in this tally is the potential acquisition of additional properties for more student housing, including a potential fifth property along the Cambie Corridor.

CIBT’s bulletin last week states they are in negotiations to “purchase a parcel of land on the Cambie Street corridor to construct a 10-storey rental tower.” The location was not specified.

CIBT acquired the property and redevelopment design plans for GEC King Edward in 2017 from local developer South Street Development Group, which had originally planned on building non-tenant specific secured market rental housing. The company’s total budget for GEC King Edward — land acquisition and construction costs — is about $45 million.

South Street Development Group also owns another property at 478-496 West 48th Avenue — a vacant property at the southeast corner of the intersection of Cambie Street and West 48th Avenue, immediately north of the entrance into SkyTrain Langara-49th Avenue Station. In 2019, the municipal government approved South Street Development Group’s proposal to turn the site into a 10-storey market rental housing tower with 54 units. This property is located in very close proximity to Langara College.

Artistic rendering of GEC King Edward at 431 West King Edward, Vancouver. (CIBT Education Group)

January 2022 construction progress of GEC King Edward at 431 West King Edward, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

August 2022 construction progress of GEC King Edward at 431 West King Edward, Vancouver. (CIBT Education Group)

In early 2021, CIBT received rezoning approval for its proposal to turn 441-475 West 42nd Avenue — just east of SkyTrain Oakridge-41st Avenue Station — into GEC Oakridge. This will be an 18-storey tower with 124 market rental homes for up to 475 students.

Other GEC student housing properties along the Cambie Street corridor include the 2020 acquisition of the market rental housing wing of the 2016-built MC1 and MC2 condominium complex at 8018-8150 Cambie Street, just north of SkyTrain Marine Drive Station. It has since been branded as GEC Marine Gateway, with 110 units fitting up to 245 student beds.

North of GEC Marine Gateway is GEC Pearson at 7657 Cambie Street, which entails two 2016-completed, six-storey buildings with 129 market rental homes, containing up to 330 student beds. According to the company, GEC Pearson is the largest off-campus student residence in Vancouver.

Exterior of the 2018-built GEC Pearson at 7657 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (GEC)

Interior of a shared suite at GEC Pearson at 7657 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (GEC)

CIBT also has more GEC locations planned for Richmond, but its largest future project is GEC Education Mega Centre — a 545-ft-tall, 49-storey tower on the former site of Stardust roller rink at 10240 City Parkway, near SkyTrain Surrey Central Station and the SFU Surrey campus.

GEC Education Mega Centre received its rezoning approval from Surrey City Council in early 2021. The top third section of the tower will be used as 168 non-tenant specific market rental homes, the middle section will be used for 215 units of student housing and corporate housing, and the bottom levels totalling 93,000 sq ft will be used as office and education institution space — including a relocation of Sprott Shaw College’s Surrey campus to the tower. The tower’s residential uses will have a total of 787 bedrooms for up to 982 occupants.

As of this month, the total budget for GEC Education Mega Centre is $318 million, which includes construction and previous land acquisition costs.

10240 City Parkway Surrey GEC Education Mega Centre

Artistic rendering of GEC Education Mega Centre at 10240 City Parkway, Surrey. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/CIBT Education Group)

A very significant portion of overall rental housing demand in Metro Vancouver is being fuelled by the demand of out-of-region domestic and international post-secondary students.

Even in 2019, it was estimated that the city of Vancouver on its own had a student housing shortage of 14,300 beds. For comparison, UBC’s entire waitlist for on-campus student housing is typically about 6,000 students each year.

Despite its aggressive student housing expansion plans, UBC has been unable to keep up with its student housing demand. But it is pursuing new off-campus student housing options — for UBC Kelowna.

This past summer, Kelowna City Council approved UBC’s proposal to redevelop 550 Doyle Avenue in downtown Kelowna into a vertical satellite campus, contained within a 509-ft-tall, 45-storey tower — the tallest building in the province outside of Metro Vancouver. This includes 503 units of student housing in the upper levels, and 92,000 sq ft of classrooms, labs, and academic office space within the bottom 10 levels.

550 doyle avenue kelowna downtown ubc campus hcma june 2022

June 2022 revised concept of the new UBC Okanagan campus tower at 550 Doyle Avenue in downtown Kelowna. (HCMA/UBC)

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