26-storey rental housing tower proposed for Langara SkyTrain station | Daily Hive

26-storey rental housing tower proposed for Langara-49th Avenue SkyTrain station

Concept for GEC Langara at 6428-6438 Cambie Street and 480-488 West 48th Avenue, Vancouver. (Urban Solutions Architecture/Global Education City)

The long-vacant site immediately north of SkyTrain’s Langara-49th Avenue Station is now being eyed for a sizeable high-rise rental housing tower.

A new rezoning application seeks to redevelop the site of 6428-6438 Cambie Street and 480-488 West 48th Avenue — located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Cambie Street and West 48th Avenue.

Global Education Communities Corporation (GECC), a local company that is one of Metro Vancouver’s largest operators of purpose-built student housing, first acquired the site in late 2023. At the time, GECC suggested that it was interested in the property due to the increased development potential enabled by the provincial government’s new transit-oriented development legislation.

This particular site has been vacant ever since it was used as a construction staging and storage area for the Canada Line’s construction in the 2000s.

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Through their subsidiary of Global Education City (GEC), the company is now looking to achieve a 261-ft-tall, 26-storey tower for the site, containing a total of 182 secured purpose-built rental homes. This includes 146 market rental units and 36 below-market rental units.

GEC Langara 6428-6438 Cambie Street 480-488 West 48th Avenue Vancouver

Site for GEC Langara at 6428-6438 Cambie Street and 480-488 West 48th Avenue, Vancouver. (Urban Solutions Architecture/Global Education City)

6428 Cambie Street 478-496 West 48th Avenue Vancouver GEC Langara 1

Site of GEC Langara at 6428-6438 Cambie Street and 480-488 West 48th Avenue, Vancouver. (Colliers International)

Site of 478-496 West 48th Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Previously, South Street Development — the site’s previous owner — had received approval from the City to develop the property into a 10-storey building with 64,0000 sq. ft. of floor area, featuring 54 secured purpose-built rental homes and 1,100 sq. ft. of retail uses.

Compared to the previous concept, this new concept for GEC Langara — the name of the project — represents a net gain of 128 rental homes within a total building floor area of 157,374 sq. ft.

Previous 10-storey concept by South Street Development (left) and the 26-storey concept for GEC Langara (right) at 6428-6438 Cambie Street and 480-488 West 48th Avenue, Vancouver. (Urban Solutions Architecture/Global Education City)

Over half of the units will have three- or four-bedrooms

As a major outlier among similar projects in Vancouver, this development places a much greater emphasis on large family-sized units, with 53% of the units being three- or four-bedroom. When two-bedroom units are included, the proportion of family-sized units increases to 63%. Under the City’s classification, units with at least two bedrooms are technically considered family-sized.

The overall unit size mix of this new concept is 47 studio units, 19 one-bedroom units, 19 two-bedroom units, 90 three-bedroom units (including four three-bedroom townhouse units fronting West 48th Avenue), and seven four-bedroom units.

But the allocation of larger units aligns with GEC’s established concept of creating dormitory-like housing.

While GECC is known for specifically catering to the housing needs of students, offering features and services similar to on-campus student housing, it is noted in the application that these purpose-built rental homes are strategically located near Langara College, and will be offered to not only students, but also faculty, staff, and other post-secondary educational partners.

Residents at GEC Langara will have access to various shared amenity spaces, including indoor and outdoor spaces on the tower rooftop.

Site for GEC Langara at 6428-6438 Cambie Street and 480-488 West 48th Avenue, Vancouver. (Urban Solutions Architecture/Global Education City)

Concept for GEC Langara at 6428-6438 Cambie Street and 480-488 West 48th Avenue, Vancouver. (Urban Solutions Architecture/Global Education City)

A 1,100 sq. ft. retail, restaurant, or cafe space will be located on the ground level, fronting a small plaza and contributing to the activation of the subway station’s public realm. Furthermore, the building is stepped back to enable a wider pedestrian sidewalk on Cambie Street.

There will be two underground levels, including P1 with seven accessible vehicle parking stalls and P2 for secured bike parking, which can be accessed by a bike elevator. The highly minimal vehicle parking is made possible by the prescription for no minimum vehicle parking requirements for the site under the provincial government’s transit-oriented development legislation.

The project’s floor area ratio density is a floor area that is 10.24 times larger than the size of the 15,371 sq. ft. lot.

The design firm for GEC Langara is Urban Solutions Architecture.

Concept for GEC Langara at 6428-6438 Cambie Street and 480-488 West 48th Avenue, Vancouver. (Urban Solutions Architecture/Global Education City)

Growing number of GEC properties on the Cambie Corridor

As of the end of 2024, GEC operated eight purpose-built student housing buildings across Metro Vancouver — a combined total of nearly 1,300 student beds.

Over the last fiscal year, the company reported that the proportion of domestic students living in their buildings more than doubled from 17% to 44%, with domestic students taking over the spaces vacated by international students.

A substantial portion of the company’s existing portfolio is found within the Cambie Corridor in close proximity to Canada Line stations, including GEC King Edward near King Edward Station, GEC Pearson south of Langara-49th Avenue Station, and GEC Marine Gateway near Marine Drive Station.

gec king edward student housing 431 west king edward avenue vancouver

GEC King Edward student housing (GEC)

In December 2024, GECC noted that it is moving forward with construction on GEC Oakridge — located just east of the future Oakridge Park mall and Oakridge-41st Avenue Station. This also follows the company’s approval of a $121-million low-cost construction financing loan from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

GEC Oakridge at 441-475 West 42nd Avenue will be an 18-storey tower with over 124 secured purpose-built rental homes — configured into about 475 student beds.

If approved, GEC Langara will be the tallest building within the immediate vicinity of the intersection of West 49th Avenue and Cambie Street — exceeding the future 14-storey, mixed-use condominium tower called Latitude on Cambie (east of Langara-49th Avenue Station) by Transca Development, which recently began site preparation work, and the future 10-storey, mixed-use building called Marco Polo (northwest corner) by Gryphon Development.

But these building heights would fall short of the proposed Langara Family YMCA redevelopment just to the east. YMCA BC Properties Foundation has partnered with local developer Townline and Musqueam Capital Corporation to achieve a 37-storey strata market ownership condominium tower, a 22-storey secured purpose-built rental housing tower, and a nine-storey social housing building on top of a new YMCA facility on their property just west of Langara College.

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