240-bed care facility to be built at Vancouver's St. Vincent's Hospital site

240-bed long-term care facility to be built at Vancouver's old St. Vincent's Hospital site

Former site of St. Vincent's Hospital at 749 West 33rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Earth)

A storied site near the geographical centre of Vancouver that was once the location of one of the region’s most significant general hospitals will see more renewed healthcare uses.

The provincial government announced today that the St. Vincent’s Heather long-term care project by Providence Health Care will go ahead, creating a new 13-storey building with 240 beds of long-term care for seniors and wraparound services. These new homes will replace aging care homes elsewhere.

The new facility will be located at the northwest corner of the intersection of West 33rd Avenue and Heather Street, where the hospital was previously located. The former hospital’s operational significance for local healthcare services was similar to Mount St. Joseph Hospital in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.

This site is also immediately south of the BC Children’s Hospital campus, and west of Queen Elizabeth Park.

The long-term care beds will be arranged as 20 “households,” each accommodating 12 residents in single-bed rooms and providing shared social and recreational spaces found in a typical home, such as a living room, dining room, and activity space. Some units will also have connecting doors to allow couples and families to remain together. Each bedroom will have a wheelchair-accessible ensuite bathroom.

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Long-term care homes provide care and supervision for people with complex care needs, who can no longer live safely and independently at home.

There will also be an adult day program with a community hall, faith/sacred space, exercise and therapy space, dental and primary-care services, a hair salon, activity rooms, and a childcare facility for up to 37 kids.

“As people age, they want to know they will have access to the right care services that will allow them to stay healthy, active and safe in their community,” said Adrian Dix, BC minister of health, in a statement.

Fiona Dalton, the president and CEO of Providence Health Care, added: “We want to drive innovation to create conditions to provide the very best care to seniors and the frail elderly – support residents to live their lives with freedom, choice and dignity. That means transitioning caregiving from a task-based approach to a resident- and family-directed approach.”

St. Vincents Honoria Conway-Heather 4875 Heather Street Vancouver

The new long-term care facility will be built west of the 2008-built Honoria Conway-Heather assisted living facility at the former St. Vincent’s Hospital site at 749 East 33rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

The provincial government notes the rezoning application with the municipal government is expected to be complete in Summer 2023, with construction expected to start in Fall 2025 for completion in Fall 2028. The project is currently in the procurement phase of seeking design and planning contractors.

According to last month’s 2023 provincial budget, the provincial government is providing $207 million towards this project, while Providence Health Care, in partnership with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver, is providing the land.

St. Vincent’s Hospital first opened at the 7.5-acre property in 1939, and after multiple expansions, it grew into a 500-bed hospital complex with an emergency room, acute medical/surgical facilities, psychiatric and chronic services, and outpatient and diagnostic support services.

Aerial of St. Vincent’s Hospital before its demolition at 749 West 33rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver)

In 2004, Providence Health Care closed St. Vincent’s Hospital and relocated its acute care services to its Mount St. Joseph Hospital, and St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver.

Shortly after the hospital buildings were demolished in 2005, Providence Health Care received approval from the municipal government on its long-term master plan of redeveloping the vacant hospital site into a campus of care for the elderly in multiple phases. It envisioned multiple buildings reaching up to six storeys with a combined total floor area of about 400,000 sq ft.

In 2008, the first building of the new campus reached completion at the southeast corner of the site — a four-storey building, now known as St. Vincent’s Honoria Conway-Heather. It is an assisted living facility with 60 one-bedroom assisted living apartments for seniors.

2005 campus of care master plan for the St. Vincent’s Hospital site at 749 West 33rd Avenue, Vancouver. (City of Vancouver)

Campus of care master plan for the St. Vincent’s Hospital site at 749 West 33rd Avenue, Vancouver. (City of Vancouver)

In 2014, the archdiocese completed its new four-storey headquarters, known as John Paul II Pastoral Centre, at the southwest corner of the property, replacing its longtime headquarters at 150 Robson Street, which has been sold for its redevelopment into a high-rise tower with condominiums and a hotel.

Most of the property is currently used as surface parking lots for both visitors and hospital staff.

The large gravel parking lot for only employees fronting East 33rd Avenue will be used as the footprint of the new long-term care facility.

The paved asphalt parking lots to the north could be used for housing.

Immediately to the south, the Heather Lands, the 21-acre former BC RCMP headquarters campus, will be redeveloped by MST Development Corporation and Canada Lands Company into 2,600 homes for up to about 5,000 residents in towers up to 28 storeys. The Heather Lands’ retail cluster — 125,000 sq ft retail, restaurant, and office space — will front East 33rd Avenue, just across from the St. Vincent’s site.

heather lands vancouver mst development corporation 2022

Heather Lands redevelopment, Vancouver. (Dialog/Canada Lands Company/MST Development Corporation)

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