City of Vancouver to push on with its market rental housing proposals | Daily Hive

City of Vancouver to push on with its market rental housing proposals after City Council setback

Concept of the 2400 Motel redevelopment at 2396-2400 Kingsway and 2441-2493 East 33rd Ave., Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/City of Vancouver)

Three rezoning applications led by the City of Vancouver to develop mixed-use projects with secured purpose-built market rental housing will continue moving forward through the review process toward potential approval.

These applications were part of six proposed sites tied to the City’s broader plan to establish a new, City-owned for-profit real estate development company. The initiative aims to deliver market rental housing that generates substantial long-term, non-tax revenue to help offset the rising costs of renewing and expanding public infrastructure and community amenities — while also contributing to the supply of homes suitable for middle-income workers and families.

However, on Tuesday, Vancouver City Council voted against City staff’s strategy to formally launch the company.

Although Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver majority supported the proposal, the motion required a two-thirds majority — eight of 11 votes in the chamber — because it involved the sale of City-owned property. City councillors Pete Fry (Green Party), Lucy Maloney (OneCity Vancouver), Sean Orr (COPE), and Rebecca Bligh (Vote Vancouver) opposed the framework, defeating the plan.

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The six development sites — currently largely vacant and/or under-utilized — would be built in phases, producing approximately 4,000 secured purpose-built market rental homes, along with local-serving commercial spaces and public amenities and other benefits. Together, the properties are currently valued at about $412 million.

Under the proposed framework, the City would sell the sites to the new company but remain the sole shareholder, retaining ownership through an arms-length relationship with a governance board comprised of both real estate industry professionals and municipal officials.

The model was designed to minimize financial risk to the City by protecting its debt and credit rating, while allowing the company to operate independently and sustain itself through its own borrowing capacity. The City-owned company was also expected to partner with private developers to deliver the projects.

city of vancouver six rental housing sites map

Map of the six City-owned sites eyed for market rental housing redevelopments spearheaded by the municipal government. (City of Vancouver)

While the company will not be established — at least not for now — the municipal government told Daily Hive Urbanized the three active rezoning applications that were set to become the first projects under the new entity will continue through the review and public consultation process. The City’s Vancouver Housing Development Office has been advancing the proposals for all six sites, completing preliminary design and planning work in anticipation of a potential handover to the company.

The first of these three rezoning applications is the proposal to redevelop the 2400 Motel at 2400 Kingsway into four towers up to 28 storeys with 863 market rental homes, plus 20,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space, a 15,000 sq. ft. community centre, a 5,000 sq. ft. childcare facility, and major public plaza and green spaces. The 3.2-acre property is worth $36.4 million.

The application for redeveloping 2400 Motel was first submitted more than a year ago in August 2024, with the proposal publicized only earlier this month, ahead of the formal public consultation process over the coming weeks.

2396-2400 Kingsway 2441-2493 East 33rd Avenue Vancouver 2400 Motel

Concept of the 2400 Motel redevelopment at 2396-2400 Kingsway and 2441-2493 East 33rd Ave., Vancouver. (Acton Ostry Architects/City of Vancouver)

The largest of the three applications being considered is the 1.8-acre site at 1402-1460 Burrard St., 900 Pacific St., and 1401-1451 Hornby St. — located next to the north end of the Burrard Street Bridge. Two towers up to 54 storeys would produce 1,089 market rental homes, over 11,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space, and public plaza and public spaces, including a new major pedestrian route towards the waterfront. The application was submitted in December 2024, and the property is worth $79.3 million.

The third project with an active application is for the surface parking lot at 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., which is a site wedged between SkyTrain’s Main Street-Science World Station and the McDonald’s restaurant. It involves two towers up to 42 storeys, with 780 market rental homes and 14,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space. The 1.4-acre site is worth $97.7 million, and the application was submitted in March 2025.

Altogether, these three projects would generate over 2,700 market rental homes, with no displacement of existing residents. The three sites carry a combined worth of about $213 million.

1402-1460 Burrard Street 900 Pacific Street 1401-1451 Hornby Street Vancouver Burrard Bridge tower

Concept for the Vancouver Housing Development Office site of 1402-1460 Burrard St., 900 Pacific St., and 1401-1451 Hornby St., Vancouver. (Diamond Schmitt Architects/City of Vancouver)

1405 Main Street 1510 Quebec Street Vancouver rental towers

Concept of 1405 Main St. and 1510 Quebec St., Vancouver. (HCMA/Archeology/City of Vancouver)

“The City’s Vancouver Housing Development Office (VHDO) remains committed to advancing the City’s housing goals,” the City told Daily Hive Urbanized on Wednesday upon inquiry.

“VHDO will continue to lead the pre-development and rezoning work for Pacific and Hornby Street, Main & Quebec Street, and 2400 Kingsway. The City will continue to move planning and design forward on these three projects unless directed otherwise by Council.”

Work will continue on the rezoning process because such projects do not necessarily need to be spearheaded by a company with the overarching framework. As well, there are already some sunk costs with creating these proposals, including hiring architectural firms and other design and engineering consultants, as well as City staff time.

During Tuesday’s public meeting with City Council, it was emphasized by City staff that the framework of creating the company enabled the municipal government to see far higher financial returns, albeit with higher risk.

City staff stated that if the municipal government does not pursue a model to create a City-owned company to spearhead the projects, it would revert the developments to a long-term, pre-paid ground lease with a private developer, with the City taking a far less active role and seeing lower financial returns. It was noted that the returns of the lease model would be less than half of what would be produced by the company model.

“While the development approach may evolve, the City remains committed to the creation of new rental housing on City land,” the City told Daily Hive Urbanized upon inquiry.

This was also the case when the City previously spearheaded the rezoning application for the newly created municipally owned development parcels made from the demolition of the looping roads at the north end of the Granville Street Bridge. This was one of the six sites that would have been assigned to the new company.

625-777 Pacific Street Vancouver Granville Loops

Conceptual artistic rendering of the form of the Granville Bridge Loops redevelopment at 625-777 Pacific St. and 1390 Granville St. (City of Vancouver)

625-777 pacific street 1390 granville street granville loops vancouver

Conceptual artistic rendering of the form of the Granville Bridge Loops redevelopment at 625-777 Pacific St. and 1390 Granville St. (City of Vancouver)

In July 2022, long before City staff began planning the possibility of creating a company, the previous makeup of City Council approved the City-initiated rezoning application to turn 625-777 Pacific St. and 1390 Granville St. — the 1.9 acres of new development parcels at the north end of the Granville Street Bridge — into six buildings, including four towers up to 40 storeys.

Based on that approved rezoning concept, there would be 1,050 homes, with 65 per cent of the residential floor area dedicated to strata purpose-built market rental homes, 14 per cent dedicated to secured purpose-built market rental housing, and 18 per cent for social housing, along with retail/restaurant uses and childcare.

At the time, City staff noted that the substantial market housing component was necessary to cover the high costs of demolishing the bridge’s loops, constructing the new replacement street grid, and building the bridge deck’s Granville Connector pedestrian and cycling pathways. This multifaceted transportation project reached completion earlier this year at a total cost of $54 million.

The completion of the rezoning process in 2022 provided the City with some certainty on what can be achieved on the property if it were to work with a developer. This would allow the City to extract the most value from a developer through a direct sale or long-term lease arrangement, usually 99 years.

In late 2024, the City’s Non-Market Housing Development Department submitted the development permit application to fulfill the social housing component of the 2022 rezoning on the parcel addressed as 1395 Rolston St., which calls for more social housing than what was originally planned during the rezoning process.

1395 Rolston Street Vancouver Granville social housing tower

Concept of the social housing tower at 1395 Rolston St., Vancouver. (Diamond Schmitt Architects/City of Vancouver)

As for the remaining two sites that would have been assigned to the company to develop into market rental housing, but have not seen a rezoning application submission yet, presumably because they are at an earlier stage of the design and planning process, these sites were 8324-8486 Granville St. in South Vancouver and 3917-3981 Main St. in the Riley Park-Little Mountain neighbourhood

The 8324-8486 Granville St. site is the Vancouver Public Library’s existing Marpole branch. Preliminary concepts call for two towers with over 400 market rental homes, retail/restaurant space, and a new replacement library. It is worth $36.3 million.

No details are available for the market rental housing and retail/restaurant space project at the 3917-3981 Main St. site, but preliminary artistic renderings show it would be a six-storey building. This site, worth $17.9 million, is currently occupied by uses such as Little Mountain Neighbourhood House, which was previously a library branch.

Concept of 8326-8486 Granville St., Vancouver. (City of Vancouver)

Concept of 3917-3981 Main St., Vancouver. (City of Vancouver)

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