In 2023, three First Nations in the eastern areas of Metro Vancouver partnered together to establish a for-profit real estate development corporation called Sacred Waters Development.
Through the historic partnership, the company is tasked with managing the economic development investments of the Katzie, Kwantlen, and Semiahmoo First Nations.
Sacred Waters similarly follows a model first established by the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations in 2014, when they created the MST Development Corporation to manage their portfolios, which includes the Jericho Lands and Heather Lands projects in Vancouver.
“Sacred Waters is an economic development company jointly owned by the Katzie, Kwantlen and Semiahmoo (KKS) Nations with a mandate to create economic and social growth opportunities,” Sacred Waters told Daily Hive Urbanized.
“We strive to deliver meaningful projects, including land acquisition and development projects, within the shared territories of the three partner Nations that serve their communities and the broader region.”
The KKS-owned company’s first major development project is now under the Township of Langley’s consideration.
A new application to the municipal government seeks to develop the 4.4-acre vacant site, which is currently not formally addressed, but carries the designation of Lot 27 on 86th Avenue. The project is going through the municipal government’s review and approval process as the development site is a freehold property owned by the First Nations, not a reserve.
Site of Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Google Maps)
Site of Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township, in relation to its walking distance to TransLink’s Carvolth bus exchange. (Google Maps)
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township, with TransLink’s Carvolth bus exchange also depicted. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Site of Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Lot 27 is located at the northeast corner of the intersection of 201 Street and 86 Avenue in the Willoughby area.
TransLink’s major Carvolth bus exchange is just a four-minute walk east of the lot, making it a transit-oriented development site. However, the bus exchange is not designated by provincial legislation as a Transit-Oriented Area.
The site is also strategically just southeast of the Trans Canada Highway’s interchange at 200 Street.
According to the application designed by Chris Dikeakos Architects and PWL Partnership Landscape Architects, Sacred Waters is looking to build four towers reaching up to 376 ft in height.
Tower 1 at the southwest quadrant of the site would reach 36 storeys, tower 2 at the southeast quadrant and tower 3 at the northeast quadrant would both reach 31 storeys, and tower 4 at the northwest quadrant would reach 36 storeys. Each tower includes a six-storey base podium.
There would be a total of 1,466 homes, including 400 units in tower 1, 332 units in tower 2, 348 units in tower 3, and 386 units in tower 4.
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township, with the four development phases highlighted. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
The unit size mix is 49 studios, 414 one-bedroom units, 418 one-bedroom units with a den, 298 two-bedroom units, 186 two-bedroom units with a den, 35 three-bedroom units, and 66 lock-off units.
Sacred Waters told Daily Hive Urbanized that the lock-off units would each have one bedroom, intended to provide flexibility for various family circumstances.
The exact housing tenure mix for the overall project has not been established, but Sacred Waters further states that they are considering rental housing and other tenure types for the full build-out, with a priority on rental housing in the first phase.
Tower 1 at the southwest quadrant represents the project’s first phase, with the remaining three phases proceeding counterclockwise across the other three quadrants, ending with Tower 4 at the northwest quadrant.
Furthermore, tower 1, the phase prioritized for rental housing, would contain 400 units, while tower 2 would contain 332 units, tower 3 would contain 348 units, and tower 4 would contain 386 units.
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Residents would have access to 51,700 sq ft of shared indoor amenity space across the development, including a standalone clubhouse pavilion building within a vast landscaped internal courtyard. There would also be 101,500 sq ft of shared outdoor amenity space, located within the courtyard and on the building rooftops.
The project includes a minor commercial use component of about 16,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant space, which is almost entirely situated within the ground level of tower 1, fronting 201 Street and 86 Avenue. This strategically aligns with the future hotel/commercial uses of the northernmost parcel of Vesta Properties’ Latimer Heights project, which is immediately to the south of the Sacred Waters property, creating a new commercial node in the area across both developments.
Three underground levels of parking in all four phases would contain a combined total of 1,746 vehicle parking stalls and 1,466 bike parking spaces.
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Concept for Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
Upon full buildout, the project would achieve a total building floor area of about 1.14 million sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 5.9 times larger than the size of the lot. Currently, the site is zoned for office and mixed-use industrial, but the application seeks to enable high-density mixed-use zoning, which benefits from the precedent set immediately next door by Latimer Heights.
The Latimer Heights project spans 74 acres, and its major component of two high-rise condominium towers — reaching 26 storeys and 34 storeys — are both located at the northernmost parcel, close to the Sacred Waters site. Both Latimer Heights towers will reach completion in 2025, and Vesta Properties is pursuing at least one additional high-rise tower for a parcel previously deemed for a low-rise apartment building.
For the time being, both towers at Latimer Heights are Langley Townships’ first and only high-rise towers.
Sacred Waters’ application also shows the potential for three additional high-rise towers up to over 40 storeys for a vacant site immediately to the north of their property, closest to the highway. However, Sacred Waters told Daily Hive Urbanized that they are not involved with this project.
Artistic rendering of The Towers at Latimer Heights in Langley Township. (Vesta Properties)
Site of Lot 27 86 Avenue, Langley Township, in relation to the adjacent Latimer Heights project by Latimer Heights. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Sacred Waters Development)
These various developments would not only strengthen ridership at TransLink’s Carvolth bus exchange, but help build out more ridership along the 200 Street corridor.
TransLink has selected the 200 Street corridor between Maple Ridge and Langley City Centre via Pitt Meadows, the Golden Ears Bridge, and Langley Township for a future Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service. The Township of Langley is in the process of creating an updated area plan for the 200 Street corridor to better support not only BRT, but potentially LRT or even SkyTrain.
According to BC Assessment, as of July 2023, the Sacred Waters property carries an assessed value of $23.4 million for the land value alone — up from $17.4 million in 2022 and $4.8 million in 2014.