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- Concord Pacific to merge 3 phases of Metrotown development in Burnaby’s first public hearing since election
Concord Pacific to merge 3 phases of Metrotown development in Burnaby’s first public hearing since election
With Burnaby’s city council back in action, residents will get their first chance of the four-year term to provide their input on proposed developments in the city at a public hearing next week.
On Tuesday, Nov. 22, the city has four items up for debate, including a proposed truck storage facility in Edmonds, a 10-unit townhouse development in the Royal Oak area, a 21-storey highrise and six-storey low-rise in Edmonds, and three phases of the Concord Metrotown development.
Here’s what’s on the docket:
In December 2019, city council gave final adoption to the Sears Metrotown master plan, while also approving Phase 1 of that plan to go ahead.
That phase includes three high-rise residential towers atop an amenity and commercial podium, with three more phases to follow. Throughout the entire development, the developers planned four open-space plazas, according to a city staff report.
An amendment was made in May 2021 to the first phase of the development to adjust the unit types and layout and to “increase the overall amenity provision.”
Now, in the final of four items up for next week’s public hearing, Concord Pacific, which also has a major development in the works for Brentwood, is looking to move ahead with the final three phases in one rezoning, “as a larger second phase entitled 2A, B, and C.”
Phase 2A would include two high-rise buildings of 40 and 49 storeys, including market strata and non-market rental per the city’s below-market requirements. Atop a commercial podium with retail and restaurants, the developer would include an “outdoor amenity podium deck.”
In all, those would include 340 market strata units and 77 non-market rental units in one tower, and 426 market strata and 49 non-market rental units in another.
Phase 2B would include a 58-storey high-rise with market strata, market rental, and non-market rental, topping retail and restaurants fronting Kingsway, McKercher Avenue, and Festival Way.
This part of Phase 2 would include 379 market strata units, 62 non-market rental units, and 131 market rentals.
Finally, Phase 2C would include two commercial high-rises, including office space and hospitality, of 47 storeys, and one 60-storey market rental tower.
That tower would include 722 market rental units.
In all, Phase 2 would add 1,145 market strata units, 853 market rentals, and 188 non-market rentals. That adds up to a total of nearly 2,200 units.
At 7465 Griffiths Dr., in the Edmonds town centre, Square Nine Griffiths Development wants to build a 21-storey market strata building, with an attached six-storey rental building, which will also be up for public hearing next week.
The lot is currently zoned for light industrial uses and is occupied by a two-storey light industrial building, according to a city staff report.
In September 2019, council gave staff the go-ahead to work with Square Nine to bring a suitable development plan for consideration, and that plan is now up for discussion.
If approved, the total density would almost perfectly match the permitted density, with a floor area ratio (FAR) of 3.15 and total floor area of 13,563.5 square meters.
In the market strata tower, the developer is proposing a total of 108 units. The rental building, meanwhile, would include 16 units as required by the city, with rents at 20% below the market median rates, as calculated by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, along with 23 units for rent on par with the CMHC market median rate, and 22 market rental units.
In all, that adds up to 169 units.
At 5675 and 5691 Rumble St., developer Simplex + G Architecture is proposing a 10-unit, three-storey townhouse development.
Currently, the sites have a combined two single-family houses, built in 1978 and 1051, and they’re surrounded by a mix of older and newer single- and two-family dwellings, as well as a city-owned townhouse development at 5706 Irmin St.
All 10 units are proposed to have three bedrooms.
At 6900 Southpoint Dr., BC Hydro is looking to build truck storage for its operations centre. The lot is currently occupied by a three-storey office building and a two-storey warehouse, both of which were built in 1992.
SNC-Lavalin has the contract for that building, which is intended to “provide improved security and heating for the existing line trucks and operations vehicles in the yard.”