Student housing eyed for Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Surrey campus

Student housing being considered for Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Surrey campus

Master plan of the KPU Surrey campus in Newton, with a future student housing neighbourhood located at the southeasternmost corner parcel. (Kwantlen Polytechnic University)

Post-secondary students are amongst the largest groups of renters in Metro Vancouver, driving much of the region’s general demand for rental housing.

For this reason, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) will be exploring introducing student housing, starting with its Surrey campus in Newton.

The university’s board of governors approved a motion on Wednesday to create a business case to support a future application to the Government of BC for funding such a project. Since 2018, the provincial government has set aside significant funding to help support post-secondary institutions with their student housing expansion projects — about 8,000 new on-campus student beds by 2028.

And the provincial budget earlier this year set aside an additional $575 million to build 4,000 more on-campus student beds.

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A KPU student satisfaction survey conducted in 2022 found over 20% of students had temporary or crowded living arrangements. There are highly limited options for rental housing, with vacancy rates currently hovering at or below 1% across the region.

“We know there is demand for student housing, with low rental vacancy rates in the cities where we are located and a clear need identified in the most recent survey of our students,” said Peter Smailes, the vice president of administration for KPU, in a statement.

The university selected the campus in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood as their first student housing project because of TransLink’s new R6 RapidBus service, which is expected to launch in early 2024 and directly serve the campus. This RapidBus will run along Scott Road and 72nd Avenue between SkyTrain Scott Road Station and Newton bus exchange.

kwantlen polytechnic university kpu surrey newton

Location of the KPU Surrey campus in Newton. (Kwantlen Polytechnic University)

In 2021, KPU finalized highly detailed official campus master plans for each of its four campuses in Surrey, Langley, and Richmond. Major multi-phased redevelopments are envisioned over the long term for each campus to modernize and expand academic facilities, improve student spaces and amenities, and better integrate the campuses with the surrounding neighbourhoods and districts.

Each campus is in an area that is set to experience immense urban change.

The Richmond campus is located immediately east of Lansdowne Centre mall, which will be redeveloped with homes for up to 10,000 people, along with significant new retail/restaurant uses. A redevelopment of the Richmond campus seeks to better integrate the site with the new urban fabric established by the Lansdowne Centre project. It would also introduce new on-campus student housing, according to the campus master plan.

The Langley campus within Langley City Centre will be within close proximity to the future terminus station of the Expo Line upon the 2028 opening of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension. With the anticipated arrival of SkyTrain, the municipal government has plans to significantly densify the city centre. Student housing is a component of the campus master plan.

The second Surrey campus in the Cloverdale neighbourhood, called KPU Tech, is immediately adjacent to Surrey’s future second hospital, which will be built by 2027 at a cost of $1.7 billion. The master plan for this particular campus does not call for adding student housing, but it seeks to introduce new uses that complement the hospital and cancer centre.

KPU also has a small satellite campus within a 30,000 sq ft space in the base of the 3 Civic Plaza tower in Surrey City Centre.

Master plan of the KPU Surrey campus in Newton, with a future student housing neighbourhood located at the southeasternmost corner parcel. (Kwantlen Polytechnic University)

As for KPU’s Newton campus, the location of the university’s first student housing project, the master plan calls for a new student housing neighbourhood at the southeasternmost corner of the campus. This parcel fronting 128th Street and 70a Avenue is currently undeveloped, with a portion used as a surface parking lot. The master plan envisions four student housing buildings for this particular parcel.

There will be future public consultation opportunities on the potential introduction of student housing at the Newton campus.

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