Six towers up 65 storeys proposed east of SkyTrain Brentwood Station

Preliminary master plan concept of the public realm for Grosvenor Americas' Brentwood redevelopment at at 4612 Lougheed Highway and 2040-2150 Alpha Avenue. (Grosvenor Americas)

Even more transit-oriented development density is envisioned for the area immediately southeast of SkyTrain Brentwood Town Centre Station and The Amazing Brentwood mall in Burnaby.

Initial public consultation will be held later this month on the preliminary concept for the master plan of Grosvenor Americas’ Brentwood redevelopment on an almost eight-acre site at 4612 Lougheed Highway and 2040-2150 Alpha Avenue, which was acquired by the UK-based international developer in early 2020.

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A portion of the site is occupied by a 1975-built, eight-storey office building, and another parcel that is largely vacant was previously a Chrysler dealership.

Grosvenor Americas property at Brentwood Town Centre in Burnaby. (Grosvenor Americas)

According to the municipal government, the proposed redevelopment calls for about three million sq ft of total floor area with a wide range of mixed uses, establishing a total floor area ratio density of about nine times larger than the size of the lot.

This includes about 300,000 sq ft of office and retail uses, potentially generating as many as 1,500 jobs, with the remainder largely designated as a mix of residential tenures. About 3,000 homes are expected, including a significant rental housing component.

grosvenor americas brentwood burnaby master plan

Preliminary master plan building and uses concept for Grosvenor Americas’ Brentwood redevelopment at at 4612 Lougheed Highway and 2040-2150 Alpha Avenue. (Grosvenor Americas)

Six towers are proposed, with the tallest tower possibly reaching up to 65 storeys at the northwest corner — closest to the SkyTrain station. This tallest tower on site would have condominiums and rental housing, attached to a podium with more rental housing, and office and retail within the lower floors. This portion of the development, known as “Urban Gateway District,” serves as the primary gateway into the site from the station.

The other five towers range in height from 30 to 60 storeys and also have podiums with a mix of uses.

The redevelopment will be divided into five distinct districts; other than the Urban Gateway, there will also be High Street, Oasis, Green Link, and Civic Heart.

High Street within the southwest corner of the site would feature a residential tower on top of a larger format anchor retail and grocery store space.

Oasis on the northeast corner could have the second tallest structures in the redevelopment, with market rental housing towers on top of non-market rental housing podiums with retail and office as the base.

Preliminary master plan concept of the five districts for Grosvenor Americas’ Brentwood redevelopment at at 4612 Lougheed Highway and 2040-2150 Alpha Avenue. (Grosvenor Americas)

Preliminary master plan concept of the public realm for Grosvenor Americas’ Brentwood redevelopment at at 4612 Lougheed Highway and 2040-2150 Alpha Avenue. (Grosvenor Americas)

The Civic Heart, situated near the core of the site, fronting Dawson Street to the south, would feature a new municipally owned and operated, multi-level community and recreational centre. It would be a cantilevering structure to provide a canopy for an adjacent plaza space that could host community events.

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. The facility is needed to serve the immense new density of residents in the Brentwood area.

This will be a pedestrian-oriented redevelopment, with 2.7 acres of public realm areas — plazas, open and green spaces, and gardens — designed for pedestrians. Preliminary public realm concepts do not show any surface roads for vehicles within the property. Pedestrian corridors across the site will be designed to establish efficient foot connections linking to the SkyTrain station and the city’s future Brentwood South public park off-site.

“The site sits at the centre of the Brentwood Town Centre and will become a hub of activity with a variety of open air shopping experiences, cafes and restaurants, office space, and high-density rental and strata residential opportunities, all designed around new public plazas, and terraced open spaces. These changes will help create a new, high quality, integrated neighbourhood in Burnaby that will be a seamless extension of existing surrounding neighbourhoods,” reads a report by city staff.

“The site will be a complete community within the Brentwood Town Centre. The synthesis of land use, architecture and landscape expression, will result in a contemporary and functional pedestrian and transit oriented development that will act as a welcoming and inclusive centre for the Brentwood Town Centre. The focus will be the interrelationship of community space, retail, residential, green space and office uses to complement the surrounding Brentwood Town Centre.”

More details on the uses and designs on the redevelopment will be released by the proponents very soon ahead of the start of public consultation this month.

The proposed total floor area of this redevelopment is roughly 50% larger than the Brentwood West master plan concept involving Bosa Development — the northwest corner of the intersection of Lougheed Highway and Willingdon Avenue, just west of the SkyTrain station.

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