Metro Vancouver malls and grocers are often hubs of the communities in which they’re located, as the many urban BIAs and regional town centre malls testify. What the region lacks in old-fashioned market squares it more than makes up for in retail strips.
Now, projects are leveraging the clout of the region’s established low-rise shopping hubs to create complete communities that anchor neighbourhoods with a mix of residential and office space. A case in point is North Vancouver, where the Central Lonsdale area is attracting attention from planners and developers.
“They are seeking higher density, more job space, a business and residential hub for Lonsdale,” said Beau Jarvis, vice-president, development, for the Onni Group, which will submit a revised plan for its site at Lonsdale Avenue and 13th Street to North Vancouver staff at the beginning of September.
The site has long been home solely to a stand-alone Safeway fronted by a parking lot. Onni wants to redevelop the site with 95,000 square feet of retail space, including a grocery store; 80,000 square feet of offices; and two residential towers with approximately 300 units.
Site coverage will be increased, along with local opportunities for jobs and housing.
The city especially wants to see additional office space in the area that will complement the rise in residential and retail space expected along Lonsdale (Anthem Properties Group plans to include condos in its own redevelopment of the Extra Foods site at Lonsdale and 17th), but Davis said the economics have to work.
Jarvis goes so far as to call office space on Lonsdale an amenity that enhances the mix of uses in the area.
“There’s just nothing, in terms of decent-sized floor plates, brand-new space, in a good location. It’s not there,” he said.
But Jarvis added that if Onni develops the space at its site, “It’s got to be the right price for the density.”
The discussion regarding the right mix of uses echoes those around the redevelopment of sites in West Vancouver’s Ambleside neighbourhood, which the municipality sees as its town centre.
GH West Van Holdings Ltd. plans to redevelop the Safeway site in the 1600-block of Marine Drive with a mix of uses, while Grosvenor Canada Ltd. is pursuing an extensive public consultation regarding the mix of residential and retail space it wants to develop in the 1300-block of Marine Drive.
Grosvenor is no stranger to such projects. Its development on Cambie Street in Vancouver, The Rise, is internationally recognized for its combination of retail and residential uses. Previously home to a car dealership, the property is one of several mixed-use projects anchoring the retail precinct flourishing around the Broadway-city hall transit station.
Cambie Street’s transformation into a walkable retail centre complete with Whole Foods and other grocers, office space and big-box retailers such as Winners, Best Buy and Home Depot is setting the pace for suburban projects where large sites offer opportunities for comprehensive planning.
Morguard Investments Ltd., for example, has redeveloped the former Town and Country Shopping Centre just outside Victoria with retail and office space. First Capital Corp. is redeveloping Port Place Shopping Centre in Nanaimo, including a 26-storey condo tower.
Closer to home, Shape Properties Corp. of Vancouver plans to redevelop Brentwood Town Centre in Burnaby, a 50-year-old property with 500,000 square feet of shops. Shape plans an additional 500,000 to 700,000 square feet of retail space on the site’s 28 acres. Approximately 300,000 square feet of office space and residential units are also planned.
Shape executive vice-president Darren Kwiatkowski believes additional space makes a better use of the property than the parking lots that surround the mall, especially given that the mall is adjacent to transit. The city agrees, flagging the property for densification.
“It’s a big site that allows you to comprehensively plan something new and exciting,” Kwiatkowski said. “It’s a 28-acre site sitting geographically at the centre of the Lower Mainland, two blocks off Highway 1 at a SkyTrain station. It’s an extremely attractive piece of property.”
Kwiatkowski points to Cambie Street as an indicator of what the property could be, especially for U.S. retailers who are scrambling to enter Canada given its resilient economy and stable housing markets.
“You’ve seen it in Vancouver – 8th and Cambie – you’ve seen it in other places,” Kwiatkowski said. “[U.S. retailers] will do what it takes to get into these urban markets because their sales are strong and they’re under-retailed.”