East Village: Over 900 rental homes and social housing units in towers up to 39 storeys to transform East Hastings Street in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

This three-tower project could fulfill roughly 10% of the Government of British Columbia’s total target of catalyzing affordable homes for middle-income households through the new BC Builds program.

In the process, it would also revitalize the easternmost end of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, bringing new life to an area specifically named the East Village.

The significant project would be the first of a number of major housing redevelopments envisioned for this segment of East Hastings Street towards Commercial Drive.

The three properties for this particular project are located on an approximate one-city block stretch of East Hastings Street between Glen Drive and Vernon Drive.

Tower 1 will be a 373-ft-tall, 38-storey building at 1030-1070 East Hastings Street, which is a vacant site immediately adjacent to the CN railway at the southwest corner of the intersection of Glen Drive and East Hastings Street.

This site is the westernmost site of the three properties. Tower 1 will contain 382 secured purpose-built market rental homes, with a unit size mix of 135 studio units, 141 one-bedroom units, 93 two-bedroom units, and 13 three-bedroom units.

Nearly 5,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant space will activate the building’s East Hastings Street frontage, and three live/work units will front Glen Drive.

Tower 2 will be just around the corner from Tower 1. It will be located at 1115-1127 East Hastings Street, which is the northeast corner of the intersection of Glen Drive and East Hastings Street. Old, low-storey commercial buildings currently occupy this site.

Tower 2 is envisioned as the tallest and largest of the three towers, at 390 feet and 39 storeys.

Tower 2 will contain 383 secured purpose-built market rental homes, with a unit size mix of 165 studio units, 123 one-bedroom units, 77 two-bedroom units, and 20 three-bedroom units. There will also be nearly 8,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant space, primarily at ground level, to activate the building’s frontages with East Hastings Street and Glen Drive.

While Tower 1 and Tower 2 are highly similar in uses and size, Tower 3 will be markedly different, with a shorter height of 195 ft and 19 storeys.

Tower 3’s site of 1168-1180 East Hastings Street is the easternmost parcel of the three-site project, situated immediately east of Pink Peal Chinese Restaurant. Two low-storey structures currently occupy the site, including the 1905-built, three-storey Vernon Apartments SRO with 36 units.

Tower 3 will contain 157 social housing units dedicated to seniors, with a unit size mix of 42 studio units, 79 one-bedroom units, and 36 larger one-for-one replacement SRO studio units. There will be higher levels of affordability with these homes rented at shelter, Housing Income Limits, and Low-and-Moderate Income Limit rates.

There will also be a 2,300 sq ft social enterprise space fronting East Hastings Street.

All three towers will feature a combined total of 924 homes, including 767 secured purpose-built market rental homes for middle-income households in Tower 1 and Tower 2 and 157 units of social housing for seniors, which is purposefully equivalent to over 20% of the project’s market rental homes as a public benefit. Overall, about 80% of the homes across all three buildings will be considered affordable for households with incomes below $80,000.

These three towers in the East Village are a joint partnership between local developer Westbank, local investment firm Promerita, and the provincial government through BC Housing.

Westbank and Promerita will own and operate Tower 1 and Tower 2, and they have already transferred ownership of the Tower 3 social housing site to BC Housing for a nominal fee. Westbank will be the lead developer responsible for the rezoning, development, and construction process of all three towers. ZGF Architects is the project’s design firm.

Each tower represents a different rezoning application, but they will be considered together. All three applications have been submitted, and the review process is now set to enter formal public consultation.

“BC Housing, through BC Builds, is very interested in participating in the proposed creation of new rental housing at the East Village with Promerita, Westbank, and a future non-profit operator, however, BC Housing’s final participation is further contingent on City Council rezoning approval as well as settlement of the final negotiated business terms amongst the parties,” reads a letter of support written to the City by Mike Pistrin, the vice president of development and asset strategies for BC Housing.

“One of these milestones have been achieved and BC Housing has certainty regarding the inclusion of affordable rental units being approved, final project approval by our executive committee and associated boards will be confirmed. We anticipate this development accomplishes the mutual objectives set out by the City of Vancouver, the project partners, and BC Housing while, more importantly, providing future residents with access to a stock of brand-new below-market rental units where affordability across the portfolio will exceed the requirements of the Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan.”

Pistrin states that BC Housing intends to provide 100% of the interim construction financing from BC Builds for the market rental housing properties of Tower 1 and Tower 2 and access their Community Housing Fund capital and operating grant funding, BC Builds, and other sources of funding for Tower 3.

BC Builds is supported by nearly $5 billion in low-cost repayable financing and direct non-repayable funding, jointly provided by the provincial and federal governments. The aim of BC Builds is to help catalyze and expedite the construction of 8,000 to 10,000 new rental homes for middle-income households by providing the necessary construction financing amid the challenging high-interest market conditions from traditional financial institutions.

“Our application for East Village comes after many years of work in collaboration with our partners and the City of Vancouver to deliver a project which recognizes the region-wide housing shortage and the importance of creating new rental housing along existing rapid transit corridors, such as East Hastings,” reads a joint statement by Westbank and Promerita to Daily Hive Urbanized.

“This project responds to our city’s critical need for housing, and equally as importantly, increases the number of social housing units in the Downtown Eastside. We’re looking forward to continuing our work with our partners and the City to realize this project as quickly as possible.”

It is noted that the rezoning applications seek variances from the heights, densities, and built form guidelines established in the Downtown Eastside Plan. These variances are needed to support a financially viable project that can generate significant new housing for middle-income workers, families, and low-income seniors.

All three towers have a combined total building floor area of over 614,000 sq ft, with Tower 1 and Tower 2 each containing roughly 260,000 sq ft. Tower 2 will technically have the highest density — a floor area ratio of a floor area that is 23.3 times larger than the size of the lot.

Extremely minimal vehicle parking will be provided across all three sites, with a unit-to-parking ratio that is lower than even Senakw.

Just 46 vehicle parking stalls are planned across all three towers.

Tower 1 and Tower 2 will each have just two underground levels, but there will be just 36 vehicle parking stalls in Tower 1 and only five vehicle parking stalls in Tower 2. The majority of the limited underground levels will be used for secured bike parking. Tower 1 will have 404 secured bike parking spaces within the underground levels and 347 spaces provided in-suite, while Tower 2 will have 387 spaces within the underground levels and 351 provided in-suite.

No underground levels are planned for Tower 3, but five vehicle parking stalls will be located within an internal mezzanine level above ground.

Behind the scenes, a growing number of other high-rise tower-based housing projects are in various stages of planning for the same general area along the East Hastings Street corridor. As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, this includes Atira Women’s Resource Society’s envisioned redevelopment of the large Pink Pearl Chinese Restaurant property — wedged between Tower 1 and Tower 3 — into hundreds of affordable homes, which is also intended to be under the BC Builds financing stream.

The area is well served by public transit, with various bus routes along Hastings Street and Commercial Drive. This includes the R5 Hastings Street RapidBus, which has a stop on Commercial Drive about two blocks to the east of the cluster of Westbank’s three proposed towers.

Construction is well underway on BC Housing’s 14-storey affordable housing and shelter complex at 1015 East Hastings Street, situated immediately north of Tower 1 and west of Tower 2. When complete in 2025/2026, it will have 25 supportive housing units, 143 low-to-moderate income rental units, and a new replacement Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre homeless shelter with 80 beds.

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