New London Drugs building with rentals on Hastings Street moves forward

New London Drugs building with rental housing on Hastings Street moves forward

January 2023 design of the development permit application for the London Drugs redevelopment at 2585 Hastings Street, Vancouver. (Rositch Hemphill Architects/JTA Development Consultants/Hastings Sunrise Development)

After the rezoning application to redevelop the London Drugs store in Vancouver’s Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood was suddenly cancelled in early 2022, the proposal has now reemerged as a new development permit application.

A mixed-use redevelopment of the 1974-built store at 2585 Hastings Street and several adjacent vacant lots — located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Hastings Street and Penticton Street — has been eyed for many years. The process of forming a land assembly began more than a decade ago, and adjacent low-storey commercial buildings were demolished shortly after being acquired.

For years, the adjacent vacant lots isolating the remaining London Drugs building have sat unused. But with the new development permit application, there is now clear movement on executing this project, finally.

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The current proposal filed under the development permit application stream is essentially the same as the previous rezoning application submitted in November 2020. A rezoning is no longer required as the development permit application takes advantage of Vancouver City Council’s December 2021 decision to allow up to six-storey secured rental buildings within C-2 commercial districts along major streets, with rental housing uses in the upper levels and retail/restaurant uses on the ground level.

The C-2 policy changes have catalyzed numerous low-rise secured rental housing proposals over the past year. With the zoning changed, it removes the time-intensive and costly added step of pursuing a rezoning for rental housing projects prior to submitting a development permit application, which is based on the existing zoning allowances.

Cancelled November 2020 rezoning application design:

2585 East Hastings Street Vancouver London Drugs

Cancelled November 2020 design of the rezoning application for the London Drugs redevelopment at 2585 East Hastings Street, Vancouver. (Rositch Hemphill Architects/Hastings Sunrise Development)

New January 2023 development permit application design:

2585 Hastings Street Vancouver development permit 2023

As such, JTA Development Consultants’ new development permit application on behalf of Hastings Sunrise Development calls for a 72 ft tall, six-storey building, with the new replacement London Drugs occupying nearly the entirety of the ground level.

There will be 157 secured market rental homes in the upper levels — seven more units than the previous design under the cancelled rezoning proposal. Although there is no breakdown of the unit size mix, at least 37% of the units will be sized for families (two- and three-bedroom units), which is identical to the proportion of the previous concept.

Residents will have access to indoor and outdoor amenity spaces on the second level and a large outdoor amenity terrace on the east side of the sixth-level rooftop.

The commercial floor area is expected to be roughly the same as the rezoning, with about 25,000 sq ft for the London Drugs store with a pharmacy and medical clinic and 2,000 sq ft for a restaurant unit at the building’s corner with the intersection.

The architectural design of the project has changed slightly, with Rositch Hemphill Architects retained as the design firm.

Site of the London Drugs redevelopment at 2585 East Hastings Street, Vancouver. (Rositch Hemphill Architects/Hastings Sunrise Development)

Site of the London Drugs redevelopment at 2585 East Hastings Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Two underground levels will accommodate about 150 vehicle parking stalls and over 300 bike parking spaces.

Stops for TransLink’s R5 RapidBus service between Burrard Station and SFU are within a short walking distance.

The total floor area is established at approximately 141,000 sq ft, creating a floor area ratio (FAR) density of a floor area that is 3.56 times larger than the size of the 39,600 sq ft land assembly. The proposed density is essentially the same as the cancelled rezoning’s 3.55 FAR.

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