Offices cut, more condos in Western Canada's future tallest tower in Metro Vancouver | Daily Hive

Office uses downsized for more condos in Western Canada's future tallest tower in Metro Vancouver

2024-approved concept of Pinnacle Lougheed at 9850 Austin Road and 9858-9898 Gatineau Place, Burnaby. (JYOM Architecture/Pinnacle International)

Some major changes in building uses are now planned for Western Canada’s future tallest tower in Metro Vancouver.

Vancouver-based developer Pinnacle International has returned to the City of Burnaby to revise its previously approved rezoning for the Pinnacle Lougheed project at 9850 Austin Road and 9858-9898 Gatineau Place, which is immediately adjacent to the bus exchange of SkyTrain’s Lougheed Town Centre Station.

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In Fall 2024, Burnaby City Council granted the final rezoning approval for the first phase of the project at the site’s northeast corner, featuring an 850-foot, 80-storey tower — Canada’s future tallest building west of Toronto — and a 782-foot, 73-storey tower, which would already be Metro Vancouver’s tallest building if it existed today.

9850 Austin Road 9858-9898 Gatineau Place Burnaby Pinnacle Lougheed 2022

The development site and three phases of Pinnacle Lougheed at 9850 Austin Road and 9858-9898 Gatineau Place, Burnaby. (JYOM Architecture/Pinnacle International Development)

2024-approved design:

pinnacle lougheed 9850 austin road 9858 9898 gatineau place burnaby 2024

2024-approved concept of Pinnacle Lougheed at 9850 Austin Road and 9858-9898 Gatineau Place, Burnaby. (JYOM Architecture/Pinnacle International)

March 2025-revised design:

pinnacle lougheed 9850 austin road 9858 9898 gatineau place burnaby march 2205 1

March 2025 revised concept of Pinnacle Lougheed at 9850 Austin Road and 9858-9898 Gatineau Place, Burnaby. (JYOM Architecture/Pinnacle International)

Both of these towers in the first phase share a 13-storey base podium, including 13,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant uses on the ground level and 515,000 sq. ft. of office uses for the remaining 12 storeys in the podium.

But now, the revisions call for a shorter five-storey base podium, with most of the vertical volume of the previous large single floors of office uses now redesigned into two separate smaller residential floor plates for each respective tower.

Within this five-storey podium, there will be 6,500 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space on the ground level, 78,400 sq. ft. of office space over three floors between levels two and four (15 per cent of the original office space size), and shared residential amenity spaces on the fifth level.

2024-approved design:

2024-approved concept of Pinnacle Lougheed at 9850 Austin Road and 9858-9898 Gatineau Place, Burnaby. (JYOM Architecture/Pinnacle International)

March 2025-revised design:

March 2025 revised concept of Pinnacle Lougheed at 9850 Austin Road and 9858-9898 Gatineau Place, Burnaby. (JYOM Architecture/Pinnacle International)

With these changes to the first phase, the tallest tower will now have 82 storeys, and the shorter tower will have 75 storeys. Any actual height changes to the towers are expected to be minimal, with the tallest tower still set to be Western Canada’s future tallest — exceeding the 2018-built, 823-ft-tall Stantec Tower in Edmonton.

But at some point over the longer term, Pinnacle Lougheed’s tallest tower would be surpassed in height by the 853-ft-tall McCarthy Plaza tower, proposed for Metrotown district.

As a result of the changes, the number of strata market ownership condominium homes in the first phase of Pinnacle Lougheed is now 1,758 units — up from 1,466 units in the previously approved rezoning, representing a net gain of 292 units or 20 per cent more condominiums.

The revised unit size mix is 468 one-bedroom units, 704 one-bedroom units with a den, 208 two-bedroom units, 235 two-bedroom units with a den, and 143 three-bedroom units.

A deep underground parkade will provide 1,322 vehicle parking stalls (1,184 stalls for residents and 138 stalls for commercial uses), and nearly 3,600 secured bike parking spaces. The project is designed by JYOM Architecture.

2024-approved concept of Pinnacle Lougheed at 9850 Austin Road and 9858-9898 Gatineau Place, Burnaby. (JYOM Architecture/Pinnacle International)

The developer will fulfill Pinnacle Lougheed’s 20 per cent inclusionary rental housing requirement on the nearby separate site of Pinnacle Carrigan at 3846 Carrigan Ct., where three additional residential towers between 23 storeys and 33 storeys in height will be built.

Just to the north of Pinnacle Lougheed, Shape Properties is advancing on additional phases of the City of Lougheed mall redevelopment, specifically the southernmost phase fronting Pinnacle Lougheed. This includes two towers with over 1,400 homes and the first segment of a new covered outdoor shopping mall.

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