First Nations-owned Heather Lands project grows by 63% more homes | Daily Hive

First Nations-owned Heather Lands development in Vancouver grows by 63% more homes

2025 revised concept of the Heather Lands project in Vancouver. (MSTA Partnerships/GBL Architects)

Even more homes are now planned for the 21-acre Heather Lands project in Vancouver, owned by three local First Nations in partnership with Aquilini Development.

A newly submitted rezoning application seeks to revise the previously approved redevelopment concept of the former BC RCMP headquarters campus, situated just west of Queen Elizabeth Park within the Cambie Corridor and south of the BC Children’s Hospital campus.

The revised rezoning master plan for the site will still generally align with the layout, uses, and public spaces identified in the May 2018-approved policy statement and the June 2022-approved rezoning application, but it adds significant density through added height for 11 of the 13 towers.

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Some tower heights have even roughly doubled in height, such as a 15-storey building increased to 33 storeys and a 25-storey tower that has now grown to 46 storeys. Previously, the Heather Lands’ two tallest towers reached 28 storeys and 25 storeys, which is now the project’s tallest building as a result of 21 floors added to create a 46-storey tower. Such new urban peaks on the site are comparable to the height of the tallest towers of the Oakridge Park mall project just to the south.

Additionally, the revisions have created an additional 14th tower. The approved rezoning called for the construction of a three-storey standalone building with a 25,000 sq. ft. Indigenous cultural centre on the northwest corner of the site fronting West 33rd Avenue, but this cultural centre has since been downsized to 10,000 sq. ft. to create a 30-storey, mixed-use tower with about 246,000 sq. ft. of market residential uses, plus nearly 4,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space.

The application notes the Indigenous cultural centre is now smaller as the location of the facility is far away from each First Nation’s reserve neighbourhood, which limits the usefulness of the unique programming. This cultural centre — now with a residential tower above it — is still planned to replace the 1912-built Fairmont building, which will be demolished instead of relocated.

heather lands mst vancouver revised 2025

2025 revised concept of the Heather Lands project in Vancouver. (MSTA Partnerships/GBL Architects)

Overall, the number of homes in the Heather Lands has increased from 2,612 units in the 2022-approved rezoning to 4,250 units in the new rezoning application. This represents an increase of 1,638 homes or 63 per cent, and it exceeds the 3,300 homes set for Oakridge Park.

The 2022 rezoning had 1,672 market leasehold strata homes, 540 social housing units, 300 secured purpose-built market rental homes, and 100 secured purpose-built mixed-income rental homes. In contrast, the new rezoning proposal envisions 2,937 below-market leasehold strata homes under the provincial government’s new Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI), 701 market leasehold strata homes, and 612 social housing units. The unit size mix of the revised concept is 650 studio units, 1,875 one-bedroom units, 1,091 two-bedroom units, and 634 three-bedroom units.

In September 2024, the provincial government announced it would provide the Heather Lands project’s First Nations owners with $672 million to incorporate thousands of units of AHI below-market leasehold strata housing, with the buyer initially financing and paying 60 per cent of the market price for the unit and the provincial government covering the remaining 40 per cent of the market price with the land owner and developer. The 40 per cent covered by the provincial government is then repaid by the buyer when the owner sells an AHI unit or after 25 years, from the purchase date, whichever comes first. During pre-sale, the buyer will need to put an initial five per cent deposit on 60 per cent of the initial market purchase price.

Leasehold strata is different from conventional free-title strata ownership, as it is a time-limited, long-term lease that does not include the value of the land. The First Nations intend to own the land in perpetuity, so they are pursuing leasehold strata as the only ownership option for their various projects.

For realizing the social housing component, the First Nations will build 281 units of social housing on one parcel it will own and operate through a non-profit housing operator, and provide a separate parcel to build the remaining 331 social housing units at no cost to the City of Vancouver.

The revised rezoning notes that under the scenario of the AHI funding from the provincial government being cancelled, the project will have a housing tenure mix of 70 per cent market leasehold strata, 20 per cent social housing, and 10 per cent secured purpose-built market rental housing.

2025 revised concept of the Heather Lands project in Vancouver. (MSTA Partnerships/GBL Architects)

It should also be noted that the Heather Lands site is not a reserve; about a decade ago, the three First Nations partnered with federal Crown corporation Canada Lands Company (CLC) to acquire the federally-owned Heather Lands and Jericho Lands sites. In 2025, CLC sold its interest in the south portion of the Heather Lands to the First Nations entity of MST Partnership, which in turn partnered with Aquilini Development. Together with the real estate development company of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks owner, this project’s implementation entity is called “MSTA Partnership.”

CLC is still involved in the project, specifically to help guide the new rezoning application towards approval. GBL Architects is the lead design firm. Demolition work of the previous police headquarters buildings first began in 2024.

The project’s public benefits include a 4.4-acre central public park and childcare facility spanning 15,100 sq. ft. for up to 125 kids, which is larger than the previously envisioned 12,000 sq. ft. childcare facility for up to 74 kids. As well, a one-acre parcel at the site’s southwest corner will continue to be set aside for a future lease to the Conseil Scolaire Francophone to build a new replacement and expanded 51,000 sq. ft. French-language public elementary school.

The revisions retain 63,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space, but the previously planned 63,000 sq. ft. of office space has been eliminated.

2025 revised concept of the Heather Lands project in Vancouver. (MSTA Partnerships/GBL Architects)

The total building floor area will reach 3.42 million sq. ft. — up from the previous concept’s 2.63 million sq. ft. This represents a 30 per cent increase in floor area. Underground levels will provide a total of 3,557 vehicle parking stalls — up from the previous concept’s 1,703 stalls.

The project will be built in five phases, beginning with the southeast parcel and then the southwest parcels fronting West 37th Avenue. The last two phases will be on the northern parcels fronting West 33rd Avenue.

In exchange for the density and uses, the revised project will provide at least about $112 million in building development fees to the municipal government and a $5.8-million public art contribution, which will be achieved on the project site through the installation of Indigenous public art installations.

heather lands vancouver construction october 1 2024

Site preparation/demolition work at the Heather Lands site in Vancouver, as of September 30, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

As a condition of the previous rezoning approval, the First Nations have already provided the City with a $13-million cash community amenity contribution (CAC) payment to improve public transit infrastructure within and near the Heather Lands site.

This is considered a transit-oriented development; the southeast corner of the Heather Lands site is a 10-minute walk from SkyTrain’s Oakridge-41st Avenue, which is currently receiving a major capacity expansion as a part of the Oakridge Park project. The northern edge of the property is also a 15-minute walk from SkyTrain’s King Edward Station.

There is some potential to build a station that essentially directly serves the new high-density residential neighbourhood and Queen Elizabeth Park. The Canada Line’s underground segment in the vicinity of the intersection of West 33rd Avenue and Cambie Street was designed to enable the construction of an additional subway station. However, the very significant construction costs and impacts to train service on this busy trunk segment of the SkyTrain line make such an infill subway station project extremely unlikely.

2025 revised concept of the Heather Lands project in Vancouver, in relation to other major neighbourhood-sized projects on the Cambie Corridor. (MSTA Partnerships/GBL Architects)

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