Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and BlueSky Properties Inc. broke ground downtown Tuesday for the city’s first new purpose-built rental building.
The 106-unit building, which will also include 2,500 square feet of retail space facing Granville Street, will be completed in early 2012 and is the first project under the city’s Short Term Incentives for Rental Housing (STIR) program.
STIR was launched in 2009 to create additional rental housing in Vancouver amid a shortage.
BlueSky Properties will build the project, which is located at Granville and Davie Streets and will be 10 stories high.
A spokesperson for the project said pricing for the rental units had yet to be agreed upon but would be determined with affordability in mind.
According to the city, the STIR program will run until December 2011 and there are currently 1,000 units in the enquiry and application process.
The city has also said that 52% of Vancouver households are renters, but new rental housing has only accounted for 6% of the market since 2004.