2,600 new homes approved by Vancouver City Council for Cambie Corridor site | Daily Hive

Langara Gardens: 2,600 new homes approved by Vancouver City Council for Cambie Corridor site

Revised concept of Langara Gardens at 7051 Ash Crescent, Vancouver. (James Cheng Architects/Concert Properties/Peterson Group)

During a public hearing on Thursday evening, Vancouver City Council unanimously approved a major rezoning application for Langara Gardens, clearing the path for a multi-phase, mixed-use redevelopment that will add roughly 2,600 new homes and new and improved public parks over the next 15 to 20 years.

Langara Gardens at 7051 Ash Crescent is one of five neighbourhood-sized redevelopment projects along the Cambie Corridor, spanning a 21-acre footprint immediately west of Langara Golf Course and east of Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School. It is framed by Cambie Street to the east, West 54th Avenue to the north, Neal Street to the west, and West 57th Avenue to the south.

This project by Concert Properties and Peterson Group replaces aging townhouse blocks while retaining the four 1970s-built existing rental housing towers with 335 units, which will receive seismic and life-safety upgrades.

Some speakers at the public hearing, including tenants of the existing buildings, lamented the aging condition of the structures and the lack of air conditioning, freezers, and in-suite laundry, citing insufficient electrical capacity and plumbing.

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The approved rezoning application — designed by James Cheng Architects — allows buildings ranging from three to 45 storeys. Overall, there will be 1,487 strata market ownership condominium homes and 692 secured purpose-built rental homes — 592 market rental units and 84 below-market rental units — as well as 180 social housing units.

As well, two future development parcels will be left vacant, set aside for the municipal government to build an additional 258 social housing units.

The redevelopment is designed as a “complete community” close to rapid transit, with the northeast corner of the property about a 10-minute walk north to SkyTrain’s Langara-49th Avenue Station, while Marine Drive Station is about a 20-minute walk to the south.

Langara Gardens 7051 Ash Crescent Vancouver 2023

Existing condition of Langara Gardens at 7051 Ash Crescent, Vancouver. (James Cheng Architects/Concert Properties/Peterson Group)

Existing condition:

langara gardens 7051 ash crescent vancouver

Site of Langara Gardens at 7051 Ash Crescent, Vancouver. (City of Vancouver)

Future condition:

Revised concept of Langara Gardens at 7051 Ash Crescent, Vancouver. (James Cheng Architects/Concert Properties/Peterson Group)

The site will have publicly accessible courtyards, a central north-south green spine, and an east-west pedestrian and cycling route linking Cambie Street to the Churchill Secondary School track. A new one-acre linear public park will be built on the western edge of the site, and the development team will contribute cash for improvements to both that park and Cambie Park.

The new tower developments will be phased. Early stages will bring a mix of strata condominiums, market rental housing, and below-market rental housing, while the second phase includes two social housing buildings totalling about 180 units and the childcare facility for 74 kids. The entire build-out is expected to unfold over four or five phases, depending on market conditions and approvals.

Public benefits form a substantial part of the rezoning. City staff estimate the community amenity contributions (CACs) package is worth about $137 million, anchored by the creation of on-site social housing and land transfers, the childcare facility, and public park land and funding.

Potential on-site relocation of residents during construction

Impacts to existing rental housing tenants were a central issue during City staff’s review. Of the 605 existing rental homes on site, 270 low-rise units will be redeveloped. Eligible tenants will receive relocation assistance under City policy, with options to move into new below-market or social housing on site, return to new market rental units at discounted rents, or relocate to the retained towers as vacancies arise. The City has also required additional protections and support for vulnerable residents through a tailored tenant relocation plan.

During the public hearing, it was explained that the project’s phasing approach will enable a staggered relocation of the residents over years. As well, the developers also have other properties that could be suitable for the relocation needs.

“I’ve seen a lot of rezonings come forward in my short time here [in City Council]. I haven’t really seen something like this that really like is able to have that sort of tenant relocation because of the phased delivery and the on-site relocation,” said COPE city councillor Sean Orr.

ABC city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung added, “Oftentimes, people will say it’s not enough or it’s not affordable enough, but I would say that 400 units is definitely better than not having them.”

“And there is also a substantive amount of public benefits that’s included in this package from the childcare to the parks, not just improvements, but actually adding new green space in, which is incredibly important from my perspective when you are adding such over time, such a large number of new residents,” she continued.

Fly-through animation video of the approved Langara Gardens project at Cambie Street & 57th Avenue.

Combined with Cambie Gardens (Pearson Dogwood) immediately to the south, both projects will have 5,600 homes for 10,000+ residents. #vanpoli #vanre 2/2https://t.co/IrDmKepeNY pic.twitter.com/DBlssZkqXb

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) February 13, 2026

Revised concept of Langara Gardens at 7051 Ash Crescent, Vancouver. (James Cheng Architects/Concert Properties/Peterson Group)

Langara Gardens’ rezoning application builds and expands on the City’s March 2018-approved policy statement to identify the site’s redevelopment potential. Policy statements are generally created for larger neighbourhood-sized developments to guide future rezoning applications. Concert Properties first partnered with Peterson Group in 2014 to begin the project’s planning process. The rezoning application, based on the policy statement, was submitted in December 2022.

“Since partnering with Peterson since 2014, the journey to reach here has been more than a decade in the making, much too long, quite frankly, from our perspective. It’s taken a significant effort, collaboration, perseverance from all parties to bring this application forward here tonight,” said Craig Watters, the COO of Concert Properties, during the public hearing.

“We’d like to sincerely thank City staff for their years of dedicated work, and I’d particularly like to also acknowledge the City leadership team. They’ve been instrumental in engaging and providing guidance over the past 18 months to resolve some complex issues that had been holding us up to getting us here this evening.”

Altogether, Langara Gardens will have nearly 2.8 million sq. ft. of total building floor area. No new commercial space is provided, but Onni Group’s 25-acre Cambie Gardens (Pearson Dogwood) redevelopment immediately to the south will eventually offer a substantial local-serving retail/restaurant space component of over 130,000 sq. ft. — including a grocery store — along with various additional community and recreational facilities, childcare, and public park and open spaces.

Langara Gardens’ existing towers also include about 20,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant uses, and the location is in close proximity to Oakridge Park mall and the Marine Gateway retail hub.

Langara Gardens’ new density and tower heights will generally mirror the tower forms and residential uses — a mix of strata condominiums, rental housing, and affordable housing — found at Cambie Gardens, which has seen some of its initial towers reach completion in recent years.

During the public hearing, lead architect James Cheng paid tribute to the late architect Lenora Markovich, who designed the original buildings of Langara Gardens. Cheng says his redevelopment concept’s configuration and design and the retention of trees amounts to “following her footstep” by maintaining her layout.

Revised concept of Langara Gardens at 7051 Ash Crescent, Vancouver. (James Cheng Architects/Concert Properties/Peterson Group)

Uncertainty of the potential future 57th Avenue Station on the Canada Line

As a condition of rezoning, Onni Group was required to provide a $20-million cash contribution to the City to be directed toward the potential future construction of an additional Canada Line station at the intersection of West 57th Avenue and Cambie Street (57th Avenue Station). The developer also set aside space in a large corner public plaza for a future subway station entrance.

However, a financial contribution in reserve for the potential future subway station was not required for the rezoning for Langara Gardens.

This potential infill station project is highly uncertain.

Although the underground tunnel beneath Cambie Street in the area of West 57th Avenue was engineered to enable a station, it is generally limited to the construction in the 2000s of a straight section of track to fit in station platforms. Very extensive, complicated, prolonged, and costly construction would be required for all aspects of the subway station, with this segment of the Canada Line being an active busy trunk line.

TransLink previously pegged the construction cost of 57th Avenue Station at $90 million, based on 2014 conditions and market construction prices, and predicted the engineering complexities may require a construction timeline of at least 10 years. Even for the recently-built construction project of building the Capstan Station in Richmond, there were major delays in completing the project, unforeseen significant Canada Line service disruptions beyond what had been originally contemplated, and cost escalation reaching $62 million — for an infill elevated station, which is much simpler than an infill underground station.

Across both the Langara Gardens and Cambie Gardens projects, upon full buildout, there will be a combined total of over 5,600 homes, potentially providing the area with a population of up to over 10,000 residents.

pearson dogwood vancouver onni group 57th avenue station f

Conceptual artistic rendering for illustrative purposes of the future 57th Avenue Station subway entrance at the southwest corner of the intersection of Cambie Street and 57th Avenue, as part of the Cambie Gardens (Pearson Dogwood) redevelopment. (Onni Group)

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