Vancouver City Council endorses high-density future for former Molson brewery site | Daily Hive

Vancouver City Council endorses high-density, mixed-use future for former Molson brewery site

Former Molson Coors brewery site at the south end of Burrard Street Bridge in Vancouver. (CBRE)

Vancouver City Council has unanimously approved the first key steps for major land use change that could eventually allow the former Molson Coors brewery site at the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge to be transformed into a high-density, mixed-use neighbourhood.

Following a lengthy and at times contentious public hearing on Tuesday, City Council approved redesignating the almost eight-acre property at the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge from industrial and employment uses to “Mixed Use High-Rise 2” in Vancouver’s new Official Development Plan (ODP).

This was a process that first began early in 2026, and involved public consultation.

City Council also endorsed changing the site’s regional designation from Industrial to General Urban, although that portion of the proposal still requires the final approval of Metro Vancouver Regional District, specifically the regional government’s board of directors comprised of other mayors and city councillors from across Metro Vancouver.

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The regional district’s board of directors is expected to give the regional designation amendment first reading on Thursday, July 24, with final consideration targeted for late September 2026. If the board approves the change, the amended Vancouver ODP is expected to return to City Council for formal enactment in October 2026.

During the public hearing, ABC city councillor Peter Meiszner said preliminary discussions to date indicate there is “broad support” at the regional government level for permitting the land use changes.

The regional district has typically been very cautious about removing protected industrial land designations because of the region’s shortage of industrial land, but the condition and context of this particular site present a different set of circumstances.

However, it should be emphasized that this latest decision by City Council does not amount to approval of a specific development proposal; no rezoning and development permit applications have been submitted.

The property will remain under its existing industrial zoning until local developer and property owner Concord Pacific submits a detailed rezoning application, which could happen after the October 2026 enactment. The developer has named this project as “Quantum Park.

Instead, the changes settle what City of Vancouver staff described as the fundamental land use question of whether the former brewery property should be allowed to transition from traditional heavy industrial uses to a combination of housing, employment space, retail, public amenities and open space. This new density and mix of uses also takes into account the major precedent set by Squamish Nation’s adjacent Senakw rental housing towers, with the first of four phases of that project on the First Nation’s reserve reaching full completion later this year.

City staff agreed with the developer’s longstanding position that the site is no longer well suited to heavy industrial activity. The brewery was built in 1953, when the False Creek waterfront contained extensive industrial activity and the site was directly connected to Canadian Pacific’s freight railway network via the Arbutus and False Creek South railway corridors.

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Metro Vancouver Regional District’s protected industrial land use designation for the former Molson Coors brewery site. (Metro Vancouver Regional District/Daily Hive)

The former Molson Coors Vancouver brewery site. (City of Vancouver)

After falling out of use at the start of this century, the railway connection was physically removed a decade ago, after the City acquired the Arbutus railway and turned it into a greenway. The brewery fully closed in 2019 after relocating to a new facility in the Fraser Valley, while the surrounding area has evolved into a mix of residential, creative employment, light-industrial and recreational uses since the 1970s.

City staff described the property as a unique, isolated industrial parcel that is not connected to a larger industrial district, reducing concerns that its conversion would place pressure on other industrial lands.

The approved guiding principles call for at least a one-for-one replacement of the brewery’s existing industrial floor area with new employment space. That space could accommodate light-industrial production, technology companies, laboratories, offices, retail, hotels, creative manufacturing, and production or rehearsal facilities.

The one-for-one requirement is based on building floor area, rather than the number or quality of jobs. During City Council’s questions during the public hearing, City staff estimated a future redevelopment could support approximately 700 to 800 jobs, compared with an estimated peak of 200 to 250 jobs at the former brewery.

The future project is also expected to include a range of housing tenures, potentially including strata market condominium ownership, secured purpose-built rental housing, and social housing. Under the municipal government’s policy for large site developments, City staff would negotiate toward a target of 20 per cent social housing and 10 per cent secured purpose-built rental housing, with 25 per cent of the rental component offered below market rates. However, staff emphasized those figures are targets rather than guaranteed requirements,

The new designation allows buildings exceeding 26 storeys to be considered, but the eventual height and density would be determined through the rezoning process. For context on the precedent set by Senakw, its future tallest building will be Tower 9 in the project’s upcoming third phase, with this particular building reaching a height of 560 ft. with 58 storeys. Upon full buildout of all four phases in the 2030s, Senakw will have a total of 11 towers.

Similar to Senakw, City staff said the future brewery development should follow a vehicle-light” approach, with an emphasis on public transit — enhanced by the major new bus station that will be built near the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge deck by the First Nation to support enhanced TransLink services — and walking and cycling. Moreover, there will be an effort to seamlessly integrate the public realms and public spaces of Senakw and the brewery redevelopment.

City councillors questioned whether the Concord Pacific project could help fund or accommodate new public transit infrastructure, such as the long-envisioned Downtown Vancouver and False Creek streetcar network. However, City staff said the streetcar is not currently being advanced and would not be funded through the former brewery project. As part of the City’s services agreement with the First Nation for the Senakw project, the municipal government previously required the First Nation to complete a feasibility study for a streetcar before the first phase of the development.

The Department of National Defence has also raised security concerns due to the property’s immediate adjacency to the Seaforth Armoury and the Colonel Sherman Armoury. Those federal issues could affect the brewery redevelopment’s building placement — overlooking and access along the shared property boundary — and will be examined in greater detail during the future rezoning process.

The former Molson Coors brewery on Burrard Street in Vancouver. (CineCam/Shutterstock)

Site of the former Molson Coors brewery on Burrard Street. (Google Maps)

Tower 1 of Senakw, as seen on May 26, 2026, with the former Molson Coors brewery in the background. (Kenneth Chan)

Spring 2026 construction progress on the first phase of Senakw. (Westbank)

April 2026 construction progress on the first phase of Senakw, with the former Molson Coors brewery on the left. (Westbank)

During the public hearing, the public speakers who spoke in support of the designation changes characterized the former brewery as an obsolete industrial property occupying a prominent central location. They argued redevelopment could reconnect the so-called Armoury District with the waterfront, add housing and job space, and create new public spaces beside Senakw.

Opponents generally did not argue that the property should remain a brewery or heavy-industrial site indefinitely. Instead, many questioned why City Council was granting the land-use change before negotiating more precise commitments for affordable housing, childcare, schools, industrial jobs, and other community benefits.

The public hearing also became embroiled in some highly unusual procedural controversy involving some public speakers using translators.

City Council initially raised concerns after one translated presentation was not fully rendered into English within the allotted time. Public speakers using translation were provided additional time, but the chair subsequently instructed them to alternate between short passages in their first language and the English interpretation so City Council could hear the complete presentation.

During questioning of another public speaker, a person presented as a translator acknowledged they did not speak the speaker’s language and was instead reading from a prepared English version of the remarks.

“I don’t speak the language. I’m reading off of the translation that she provided me,” the person told City Council.

In direct response, ABC city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung said: “So translator, what I’m hearing, just to confirm, is that you are translating but do not have capability in the language. Therefore, you cannot be a translator.”

City staff also clarified the procedure rules allows a public speaker who requires a translator to use one, but questioned whether that provision applied when the accompanying person was not actually interpreting the language.

Public speakers were subsequently instructed to use translators capable of providing live interpretation rather than reading prepared English scripts.

City Council also intervened when another translated presentation appeared to very closely repeat comments delivered by an earlier speaker.

At least about half a dozen public speakers who used translators opposed the policy changes, including several who were clearly identified with United Here Local 40 — a major union representing many local hotel and other hospitality workers — including the union’s B.C. president. Over the years, this union, which is particularly politically charged in municipal politics, has been highly combative in its opposition to new hotel and market residential development projects.

“I’m just curious why the translator was needed, other than to filibuster,” said ABC city councillor Brian Montague in his exchange with the union president.

City Council ultimately approved City staff’s policy recommendations for the former brewery site without adding any new conditions.

“This has been an interesting site to see it’s winding down of what was once the Molson Brewery and then relatively dormant for a long time by all accounts to anybody driving or walking by,” said Meiszner.

“I think it’s clear, particularly with Squamish Nation, Senakw, and that development, that it wouldn’t be appropriate to insist on industrial at this site. I think we see a transformation happening. My hope is that there is, and what I’ve heard is that there’s urgency from the land owner to bring forward an application for rezoning and that we don’t sort of stall that process out for one reason or another.”

If all hurdles are passed, Concord Pacific’s future rezoning application is expected to differ considerably from the highly preliminary concepts it developed before the pandemic and before the Squamish Nation first announced its Senakw project.

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Cancelled previous concept: Artistic rendering of Quantum Park, the redevelopment of the old Molson Coors brewery in Vancouver. (Concord Pacific)

Cancelled previous concept: Artistic rendering of Quantum Park, the redevelopment of the old Molson Coors brewery in Vancouver. (Concord Pacific)

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