When I moved back to my hometown of Burnaby a few years ago, I didn’t recognize some of it.
The sleepy Brentwood area where I grew up in – after moving from Burnaby Heights when I was five – had been transformed by the arrival of a SkyTrain station that I badly wish I had had access to as a teenager.
And it keeps on transforming in a good way with a revamped Amazing Brentwood mall, new restaurants and high-density developments that aim to get people out of their vehicles by being located right next to SkyTrain.
Brentwood is one of Burnaby’s four city centres, along with Metrotown, Lougheed and Edmonds – all right on Skytrain lines.
Some residents think these areas are growing too fast and complain about “tower fatigue” but adding density at these city centres is vital to providing more housing options.
Now a new project has come along that feels like a real game-changer for Brentwood.
Grosvenor is a master-plan development that sits on nearly eight acres on the south side of Lougheed Highway right next to the Brentwood SkyTrain station.
What is proposed is a pedestrian-only development that will include one of the largest rental housing components in Metro Vancouver.
Burnaby council voted on Monday to move forward to the consultation phase on the project, which aims for approximately 3,500 new homes, including 2,450 rental homes, plus a new urban, multi-storey community centre and approximately 200,000 square feet of commercial space.
This will be Grosvenor’s largest mixed-use development in North America.
The development, located within one of Metro Vancouver’s fastest-growing communities and one block
The project will feature the tallest all-rental tower in Western Canada at over 60 storeys, and include 2,000 market rental and 450 below-market rental homes with rents set at 20% below CMHC median rental rates for the area.
When the project is described as pedestrian-only, it means that the only access for vehicles to underground parking will be from the outside. The centre will be designed just for walkers and cyclists with landscaped trails.
The project will also add a much-needed community centre that will be open to the entire Brentwood community.
“This is a truly unprecedented development with more than half of the site dedicated to open space, including landscaped plazas and courtyards, around which all buildings are focused,” said Ryan Bragg, principal, Perkins & Will, in a statement. “Typically in this type of development, instead of plazas and courtyards there would be streets and space to support vehicles, but here there will be no cars, just trails and green space. It’s a complete paradigm shift for the region.”
This project is one of several that are planned south of Lougheed Highway in Brentwood.
Concord currently has four towers set to be completed just east of Brentwood mall, with more towers planned in the coming years on the property, including one that will have its own sandy beach.
Like I said, the area is being transformed and in a way that takes advantage of SkyTrain.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
