Over 600 rental homes proposed for new Vancouver Jewish Community Centre | Daily Hive

Over 600 rental homes in taller towers up to 39 storeys proposed for Vancouver Jewish Community Centre redevelopment

October 2025 revised concept of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver redevelopment at 950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/JWest Foundation)

In a clear attempt to improve the project’s economic and financial viability, the size of the redevelopment of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver has grown further to support more secured purpose-built market rental housing.

A new rezoning application by Acton Ostry Architects and JWest Foundation — the offshoot organization created to oversee the community centre’s ambitious capital program — has considerably increased the tower heights and market residential density of the project at the 3.34-acre site of 950 West 41st Ave., which is situated at the southeast corner of the intersection of Oak Street and West 41st Avenue.

Founded in 1961 in its current facility and serving tens of thousands of people annually, the centre houses a wide range of activities including fitness, aquatics, preschool and senior programming, Jewish cultural festivals, and facility rentals for community use.

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Tallest towers increased from 26 storeys to 39 storeys

In 2018, Vancouver City Council approved the project’s previous rezoning application, calling for towers of 24 storeys and 26 storeys.

Now, the tower heights have been increased to 37 storeys and 39 storeys, reaching up to approximately 442 feet. Additionally, one tower that previously fronted a mid-block location on West 41st Avenue has been relocated to Oak Street to support a more efficient, phased construction of the mixed-use complex, eliminating overlapping dependencies and compartmentalizing the three different new buildings that make up the complex.

950 West 41st Avenue Vancouver Jewish Community Centre 2025 design

October 2025 revised concept of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver redevelopment at 950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/JWest Foundation)

Site of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver redevelopment at 950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/JWest Foundation)

Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver 950 West 41st Avenue

Existing street view of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/JWest Foundation)

October 2025 revised concept of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver redevelopment at 950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/JWest Foundation)

In addition to the added verticality, the towers also have larger floor plates to accommodate more residential space to improve the project’s feasibility. This also helps offset the extra space taken for recent building code changes to structural seismic requirements, as well as an enlarged building core to accommodate more elevator capacity.

Number of rental homes more than doubled

With the resulting increased density, there will now be 630 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 567 market rental units and 63 below-market rental units, with 90 per cent of the rental residential floor area set aside for market units and 10 per cent for below-market units.

This more than doubles the previous concept’s overall tally of 299 secured purpose-built rental homes, but it deviates from the housing tenure mix of 70 per cent market rental units and 30 per cent below-market units. The proponents note that the increase in market rental housing is needed to protect the project’s economic viability.

Furthermore, the unit size mix is 123 studio units, 255 one-bedroom units, 184 two-bedroom units, and 68 three-bedroom units.

950 West 41st Avenue Vancouver Jewish Community Centre 2025 design f

October 2025 revised concept of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver redevelopment at 950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/JWest Foundation)

Construction on the first phase of the new community centre could begin in 2026

As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized in March 2025, a development permit application supporting the new replacement community, recreation, and cultural centre building — replacing the existing surface vehicle parking lot on the eastern end of the property — has been downsized, but it still retains the wide range of uses as originally contemplated. At the time, the community centre’s leadership told Daily Hive Urbanized this was due to growing cost pressures, with high inflation in the market construction price for materials, labour, and equipment since the pandemic.

Previously a 133-ft-tall, eight-storey building with about 248,000 sq. ft. of floor area, the new community centre building is now a 104-ft-tall, six-storey structure with 189,000 sq. ft. of space.

This includes dedicating the entire sole underground level of the community centre for aquatic centre uses, including a 25-metre, eight-lane lap swimming pool — a big upgrade from the existing facility’s 25-metre, four-lane tank — as well as a large “warm water” leisure pool for family, therapy, and training uses, a hot pool, and universal changerooms.

Within the remaining floors above the aquatic centre, there will be a flat-floor auditorium/theatre with a built-in performance stage and a capacity for over 400 spectators, arts/crafts spaces, a library, gallery, an expanded Holocaust Education Centre, office space for about 20 non-profit services and agencies, a public safety policing centre, kitchens, a cafe, an adult daycare centre, seniors centre, teens lounge, various multi-purpose rooms, two gymnasiums, and fitness space.

On the sixth-floor rooftop, there will be a childcare facility for up to 65 kids, complete with extensive outdoor play spaces.

October 2025 revised concept of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver redevelopment at 950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/JWest Foundation)

The new community centre represents the first phase of the project. In May 2025, the development permit application was approved, which depends on the enactment of the original 2018 rezoning bylaw. The current intention is to begin construction on this first phase in early 2026, with the existing community centre remaining operational until the new facility reaches completion and opens in Winter 2028.

To help cover the first phase’s construction costs, JWest Foundation received a $25 million contribution from the provincial government in 2021, a matching $25 million contribution from the federal government in 2022, a joint donation of $36 million from the Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation and the Al Roadburg Foundation in 2023, a $25 million donation from the Diamond Foundation, and a further $25 million specifically towards the new high school.

The second phase involves the demolition of the existing community centre building at the mid-block site for the construction of the new replacement and expanded King David High School — a six-storey, 111,000 sq. ft. building that will also include underground connections to the new community centre building and future connections to the underground parkade. Upon completion, the existing school immediately to the east of the current surface vehicle parking lot will be demolished.

October 2025 revised concept of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver redevelopment at 950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/JWest Foundation)

The third phase focuses on building the underground parkade immediately to the south of the new school building, with the roof of this parkade forming the foundation for a new sports field and playground.

To support all uses across the multi-building complex, there will be up to four underground levels to provide 504 vehicle parking stalls — including 159 stalls for the community centre and childcare and 159 stalls for the school — and over 1,600 secured bike parking spaces.

The fourth phase will achieve both rental housing towers. The aim is to complete the third and fourth phases as quickly as possible after the second phase is finished.

October 2025 revised concept of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver redevelopment at 950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/JWest Foundation)

Upon the completion of all four phases, the new complex of buildings will have a total building floor area of 841,000 sq. ft., generating a floor area ratio (FAR) density of a floor area that is 5.77 times larger than the size of the lot — up from the previous tally of 654,000 sq. ft. with a FAR density of 4.49.

It is noted that the site is within the provincially legislated, Transit-Oriented Area for SkyTrain’s Oakridge-41st Avenue Station, which is about an eight-minute walk from the easternmost end of the community centre site. The site is also directly adjacent to bus stops served by the R4 41st Avenue RapidBus and other local bus routes, such as the No. 17 Oak Street trolley bus and No. 41.

“The proposed heights remain consistent with the evolving urban context and built form of the Oakridge Municipal Town Centre, where recent approvals and developments reflect a trend toward higher-density, transit-oriented growth,” reads the new application.

The project is immediately south of Grosvenor’s Mayfair West high-rise redevelopment of TransLink’s former trolley bus depot, and just a block west of the new Oakridge Park mall opening in 2026.

At the northwest corner of the intersection of West 41st Avenue and Oak Street, there are planned high-density, mixed-use redevelopments of the Louis Brier Home & Hospital and Shawn Oaks sites. For the Shawn Oaks site alone, there are plans to build a 33-storey condominium tower, a 31-storey condominium tower, and two six-storey social housing buildings for a total of 450 strata market ownership condominium homes and 180 social housing units for families.

For the southwest corner of the intersection, including the former Chevron gas station site, Wesgroup Properties is currently in the process of constructing 25-storey and 17-storey towers with 357 rental homes and over 16,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant uses.

A growing number of new and revised development projects in the area are seeking similarly taller building heights approaching 40 storeys.

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