New Westminster City Council balks at 'Manhattan' density plan | Daily Hive

Proposed new building forms for the Lower Twelfth Street Area Study Update, March 2025. (City of New Westminster)

In Fall 2024, New Westminster City Council provided the green light for Edgar Development’s proposal to turn the Columbia Square strip mall into a high-density, transit-oriented development.

The seven-acre strip mall, situated just west of SkyTrain’s New Westminster Station, will be redeveloped into eight high-rise towers up to 53 storeys with over 3,800 new homes for up to approximately 7,250 residents, plus 120,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space and 42,000 sq. ft. of office space.

This has set some precedent for the future potential redevelopment possibilities of the adjacent sites, specifically for an L-shaped, 24-acre parcel comprised of about half a dozen city blocks — an area the City of New Westminster refers to as the Lower Twelfth Street Area Study Update planning process.

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Currently, these properties are used for car dealerships, other commercial uses, and light industrial uses, and they form some of New Westminster’s last, large, unprotected industrial land uses.

The southern half of the area plan is within the provincial government’s legislated Transit-Oriented Area (TOA) for New Westminster Station.

Lower Twelfth Street Area Study Update New Westminster

Site of the Lower Twelfth Street Area Study Update. (City of New Westminster)

According to the City, it has received various “catalyst applications” for major properties within this area plan.

This includes the 2023 pre-application submission for a proposal to redevelop the 3.1-acre site of 111-115 12th St., 118 11th St., and 136 Queens Ave.

This pre-application outlines up to 1.4 million sq. ft. of total building floor area, largely contained within a 20-storey tower with 200,000 sq. ft. of office space, and four residential towers between 32 storeys and 42 storeys — featuring strata market ownership condominiums and secured purpose-built rental housing, including 219,000 sq. ft. of below-market rental housing. During a previous City Council meeting, there were some discussions about changing the proposed office tower to rental housing, and potentially include a new fire hall on the site.

Additionally, there would be 85,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant and creative/ultra-light industrial space, including the “adaptive reuse of two existing buildings” — a parcel of the site is home to several warehouse structures built in 1941, while another parcel is home to the 1940-built The Terminal Pub building.

Preliminary visuals for this project appear to show the relocation and reuse of the large barn-shaped warehouse structure and The Terminal Pub towards the centre of the site as the active centrepieces of the development.

111-115 12th St., 118 11th St., and 136 Queens Ave.

Site of 111-115 12th Street, 118 11th Street, and 136 Queens Avenue in New Westminster. (City of New Westminster)

2023 preliminary proposed concept for 111-115 12th Street, 118 11th Street, and 136 Queens Avenue in New Westminster. (Project Team)

Another separate pre-application proposes to redevelop a western parcel of the study area at 301-325 12th Street, 334-338 12th Street, and 1208-1212 4th Street, with the applicant looking to build a mix of light industrial, commercial, and residential uses.

Following the submission of these catalyst proposals, the municipal government launched a planning process in early 2024 to update the area plan in order to create a more cohesive vision for the area.

During a City Council meeting earlier this month, it was shared that both catalyst proposals combined would generate about 6,000 new homes for approximately 10,000 new residents.

At the same public meeting, City staff also recommended approving a range of lower building densities and heights to guide planning for the area plan and catalyst applications. They proposed building height guidelines of six to 15 storeys for the northwest parcels, up to 25 storeys for the southwest parcels, and up to 40 storeys for the southern parcels, which are closest to Columbia Square and New Westminster Station. This reduced density and height would support approximately 3,500 new homes for about 6,000 residents, along with commercial and light industrial space for 2,000 to 5,000 jobs.

March 2025 proposed concept for the Lower Twelfth Street Area Study Update. (City of New Westminster)

Although these recommended guidelines by City staff would lower the proposed densities and heights for all catalyst projects, City Council still considered them excessive for the area.

However, City staff noted there needs to be sufficient residential density to make the projects economically and financially feasible, especially if they are to also include a mix of commercial and creative/ultra-light industrial uses, which generally require lower tenant rents than more traditional commercial uses.

But Mayor Patrick Johnstone suggested that at this time, City Council is not willing to accept this tradeoff for residential density in exchange for affordable spaces for artists and creative businesses.

“We’re not a Council that has a history of saying no to new housing or to meeting our housing targets or recognizing our regional responsibility for housing, but this is a unique area. There’s a lot of areas in the city where we can still develop more housing that are in the TOAs that are already designated,” said Mayor Patrick Johnstone during the meeting.

“Right now, the model is you would require a bunch of residential density there in order to fund the rest of the things we’d like to see, and whereas we seem to be as a Council uncomfortable with that right now. So I think that’s the conversation we have to have a further discussion on. We have to understand those economics more.”

City councillor Daniel Fontaine likened the area’s potential as New Westminster’s version of Granville Island in Vancouver or The Shipyards in North Vancouver, where former industrial buildings were converted into creative and unique commercial uses.

“I see this area of the city as really is a bit of a gem that’s sitting there waiting for us to do something with. I can’t help but compare it to places like Granville Island, which have incorporated jobs and less housing… a great place for people to go right through to Southeast False Creek, which has taken some of the older signature buildings, incorporated them into restaurants, pubs,” said Fontaine.

“I want to be careful that there’s gotta be jobs here. There’s got to be activity and I love the artisans. I love all that stuff. We cannot just simply put the housing in there and be falling into the trap of, again, because we’ll lose that gem of a property. I think the jobs creation piece is absolutely vital and has to be factored in to all of this.”

1941-built warehouse buildings within the development site of 111-115 12th Street, 118 11th Street, and 136 Queens Avenue in New Westminster. (Google Maps)

1940-built The Terminal Pub restaurant building within the development site of 111-115 12th Street, 118 11th Street, and 136 Queens Avenue in New Westminster. (Google Maps)

Fontaine also asserted that City Council needs to send a strong message that this area will not look like the “parade of towers that leads to the downtown,” as illustrated by City staff’s recommended concept for guiding the area’s planning and the submission of the catalyst applications.

“I will say that when I saw the imagery that was brought forward of the massing, I will say I gasped. Like it looked like Manhattan, there’s a lot of towers,” continued Fontaine.

Fontaine and others in the chamber also expressed a desire to create a plan for how public amenities would be generated by these developments, including new parks, community and recreational facilities, and schools.

“I want to see the public amenity plan first. I want see where the parks are gonna go. I want to see where the pools are being planned, the libraries. We cannot jam in that many towers and that many people, and then tell the public that, ‘oh, the amenities are gonna come later’ or ‘the schools will come later,'” Fontaine added, while also suggesting for a need for TransLink to expand New Westminster Station to better accommodate the station’s growing ridership from the city centre area’s densification.

New Westminster Station underwent a major expansion that was completed in 2016. Currently, TransLink is in the planning stages of a significant expansion of SkyTrain’s Columbia Station, located on the eastern side of downtown New Westminster.

City Council ultimately rejected City staff’s proposed building density and height guidelines, and directed City staff to complete the city-wide Parks and Recreation Master Plan, the updated Employment Strategy, the Retail Strategy, the Financing Growth Strategy, and the exploration of potential institutional uses, with staff reporting back on how this will impact the Lower Twelfth Street Area Plan — all before processing the catalyst project applications.

The approved redevelopment of the Columbia Square strip mall also includes 1.8 acres of public open space, including significant park space, a central public community paza, and major event-friendly spaces that create a new active and vibrant core for downtown New Westminster.

88 10th Street New Westminster Columbia Square Plaza

Site of the redevelopment of Columbia Square Plaza at 88 10th Street, New Westminster. (City of New Westminster)

88 10th Street New Westminster Columbia Square Plaza f

Conceptual artistic rendering of the redevelopment of Columbia Square Plaza at 88 10th Street, New Westminster. (Edgar Development/MCMP Architects)

columbia square new westminster edgar development

Conceptual artistic rendering of the redevelopment of Columbia Square Plaza at 88 10th Street, New Westminster. (Edgar Development/MCMP Architects)

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