TransLink's first rental housing project approved by Vancouver City Council

Vancouver City Council approves TransLink's first rental housing project, located at Arbutus SkyTrain station

Artistic rendering of the rental tower at 2096 West Broadway and 2560 Arbutus Street next to the future SkyTrain Arbutus Station. (MCMP Architects/TransLink/PCI Developments)

Vancouver City Council has approved the rezoning application to enable the construction of a new high-rise, mixed-use rental housing tower at the southeast corner of the intersection of West Broadway and Arbutus Street in the Kitsilano neighbourhood.

This site is highly strategic because it is located immediately south of the main entrance into SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station, which will feature an integrated bus exchange for the 99 B-Line for the remaining journey to the University of British Columbia campus. The Arbutus Greenway’s pedestrian and cyclist route is also on the east side of the building.

This is not only one of the first high-rise tower projects approved under the City of Vancouver’s Broadway Plan, but it is also TransLink’s very first building development project under the public transit authority’s new for-profit real estate development division.

Such projects under the division are intended to provide the financially struggling TransLink with a new source of ancillary revenue to help fund the operations, maintenance, and improvement of public transit services across Metro Vancouver, while also contributing to public transit ridership and much-needed housing supply.

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For this project at the land assembly of 2096 West Broadway and 2560-2576 Arbutus Street, TransLink has formed a 50-50 partnership with local developer PCI Developments, which specializes in transit-oriented development.

As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, the rezoning application was submitted just over a year ago in June 2023, and it was unanimously approved tonight during Vancouver City Council’s final scheduled public meeting before the summer break through mid-September 2024. This represents a fast timeline, given the past precedents of years-long lengthy reviews for comparable projects.

2096 West Broadway 2560 Arbutus Street Vancouver TransLink PCI Developments 1

The combined development site of 2096 West Broadway (northern TransLink parcel) and 2560 Arbutus Street (southern PCI parcel) next to SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station. (TransLink)

Existing condition:

2096 West Broadway 2560 Arbutus Street Vancouver TransLink PCI Developments f

The development site’s northern TransLink parcel at 2096 West Broadway, where Fletchers Fabricare is located. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

2096 West Broadway 2560 Arbutus Street Vancouver TransLink PCI rental tower Arbutus Station SkyTrain

Arbutus Street perspective; Artistic rendering of the rental tower at 2096 West Broadway and 2560 Arbutus Street next to the future SkyTrain Arbutus Station. (MCMP Architects/TransLink/PCI Developments)

This will be a 298-ft-tall, 30-storey tower with 260 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 208 market rental units and 52 below-market rental units, based on the Broadway Plan’s stipulation of requiring at least 20% of the residential rental floor area be set aside for below-market rental housing.

About 6,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses will activate the street-level frontages of West Broadway, Arbutus Street, and West 10th Avenue. This includes a 1,500 sq ft cafe space fronting West 10th Avenue as part of the new future home of Ohel Ya’akov Community Kollel — a Jewish community organization currently located a block to the west in a smaller, old space.

Kollel will have a total of 8,700 sq ft of new purpose-built community space in the building, including the cafe and main community space on portions of the ground level and second level of the podium. The main entrance into the community space will be from the Arbutus Greenway.

Existing condition:

2096 West Broadway 2560 Arbutus Street Vancouver TransLink PCI Developments 2

The development site’s southern PCI parcel at 2560 Arbutus Street, where the two-storey retail building is located. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Additionally, this building will set aside space on the ground and underground levels for a potential future secondary entrance into the subway station, connecting with Arbutus Station’s mezzanine level beneath West Broadway. The reserved space for the additional street-level entrance was planned to front Arbutus Street, but City staff are recommending that the entrance location be shifted to enable direct access from the project’s public plaza at the prominent intersection’s corner.

There is no guarantee that this secondary station entrance will be built in the future, just like the reserved space within PCI Developments’ Crossroads building (Whole Foods Market and London Drugs) for an additional entrance into Broadway-City Hall Station. The secondary entrance at the Arbutus Station tower site will likely require additional funding for construction. However, earlier this week, Daily Hive Urbanized reported that a proposal to build a high-rise rental housing tower at 1470 West Broadway would incorporate a secondary entrance for South Granville Station as part of its construction and public benefits.

Due to delays in construction, the opening date for SkyTrain Millennium Line’s Broadway Extension reaching Arbutus was recently pushed from early 2026 to Fall 2027.

“I think this is a really exciting project, which is a preview of what’s to come on the Broadway Subway,” said ABC city councillor Peter Meiszner during tonight’s deliberations.

“I also really appreciate the integration with the future transit station. I think that is fantastic, and it’s great to see that collaboration happening with TransLink, as well as the Kollel community space, which I know is going to be very beneficial to the community.”

Ground floor plan of the rental tower at 2096 West Broadway and 2560 Arbutus Street, showing retail/restaurant units, and spaces for the potential future secondary entrance into SkyTrain Arbutus Station and new home of Ohel Ya’akov Community Kollel. (MCMP Architects/TransLink/PCI Developments)

Main entrance; Arbutus Station on the SkyTrain Millennium Line Broadway Extension (Broadway Subway). (Government of BC)

Mezzanine level; Arbutus Station on the SkyTrain Millennium Line Broadway Extension (Broadway Subway). (Government of BC)

2096 West Broadway and 2560-2576 Arbutus Street

Concept of the rental tower at 2096 West Broadway and 2560 Arbutus Street next to the future SkyTrain Arbutus Station. (MCMP Architects/TransLink/PCI Developments)

Four underground levels at this future tower next to Arbutus Station will contain only 67 vehicle parking stalls, plus 489 bike parking spaces.

The total building floor area will reach 228,233 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 11.3 times larger than the size of the lot. Currently, the property sees low-storey commercial uses.

Local architectural firm Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership, which has collaborated with PCI Developments on a number of other occasions, is behind this project’s design.

“This is an amazing neighbourhood to have new rental and low-market rental added to it, and much needed. I think the density of this building is actually quite appropriate. It’s going to be a big change, but given that it’s on Arbutus Greenway, the rapid transit line, and the public benefit coming back to the community in the below-market units, I’m really looking forward to seeing how this building comes to fruition, particularly integrating some of the active transportation network that’s adjacent to the site,” said ABC city councillor Rebecca Bligh.

“I appreciate staff are accelerating, or not even accelerating, just doing really great work at speeding up these applications and getting them in front of Council.”

With the rezoning application now approved, TransLink and PCI Developments will move to submit the development and building permits to enable construction, which is expected to begin in late 2025 for a completion in 2029.

Existing condition:

Site of 2096 West Broadway and 2560 Arbutus Street from the Arbutus Greenway. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Arbutus Greenway perspective; Artistic rendering of the rental tower at 2096 West Broadway and 2560 Arbutus Street next to the future SkyTrain Arbutus Station. (MCMP Architects/TransLink/PCI Developments)

PCI Developments has a proven history of building some of the region’s most successful transit-oriented developments, including Marine Gateway (SkyTrain Marine Drive Station) and Crossroads (SkyTrain Broadway-City Hall Station). PCI Developments is currently constructing a 39-storey mixed-use retail, office, and rental housing tower above SkyTrain’s future South Granville Station entrance, and it is in the process of proposing major projects next to SkyTrain’s future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station and the existing VCC-Clark Station and Marine Drive Station.

As for other TransLink projects under its for-profit real estate development division, the public transit authority is currently in the process of planning a massive mixed-use redevelopment for the park-and-ride and bus exchange facility next to SkyTrain Coquitlam Central Station, and a redevelopment of its old North Vancouver bus depot.

It intends to build residential, commercial, or mixed-use developments near its public transit infrastructure through partnerships with the public and private sectors.

“We’re always looking at parcels around our SkyTrain stations. Where we do own properties, we look to partner up with folks. Right now, we have a few sites that we’ve identified, like the Coquitlam Central park-and-ride and some others that we think there’s some really good opportunity, where there’s a critical mass of parcels to do something, either on our own or partnering with a private developer,” TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn told Daily Hive Urbanized in a previous interview.

“We think about those on a case-by-case basis, as all of those projects are unique individual projects. We want to ensure those are going to be revenue-positive and bring in funding that we can put toward the system.”

Daily Hive Urbanized previously reported in 2019 that the public transit authority acquired the Fletchers Fabricare property at 2096 West Broadway for $17.1 million. Then in 2021, PCI Developments acquired the adjacent two-storey retail building of 2560 Arbutus Street for $19.5 million.

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