After spending just 13 minutes on the agenda item of the rezoning application for 5350-5430 Heather Street, without any public speakers or debate, Vancouver City Council unanimously approved the sizeable rental housing project.
Five single-family houses on the mid-block site near the southeast corner of the intersection of West 37th Avenue and Heather Street — about one block north of the new Oakridge Park (Oakridge Centre) mall, and just south of the future Heather Lands development — will be redeveloped into two 18-storey towers reaching a height of up to 197 ft.
SkyTrain’s Oakridge-41st Avenue Station and the R4 RapidBus bus stops are about five minutes’ walk from the development site.
Local developer Rize Alliance and architectural firm Dialog are behind the project, which is one of the largest new secure purpose-built rental housing projects within the emerging Oakridge Town Centre district outside of the mall.
Site of 5350-5430 Heather Street, Vancouver. (Dialog/Rize Alliance)
Site of 5350-5430 Heather Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)
Artistic rendering of 5350-5430 Heather Street, Vancouver. (Dialog/Rize Alliance)
Artistic rendering of 5350-5430 Heather Street, Vancouver. (Dialog/Rize Alliance)
There will be a total of 344 rental homes, including 275 market rental units and 69 below-market rental units. The unit size mix is 78 studios, 142 one-bedroom units, 94 two-bedroom units, and 30 three-bedroom units. Residents will have access to indoor and outdoor amenity spaces on various levels, including an expansive indoor and outdoor area on the rooftop of the north tower.
“This is a significant amount of new rental homes… It’s also in an area of the city that is changing rapidly, the Cambie Corridor, but close to the Canada Line and across the street from the Heather Lands redevelopment,” said ABC councillor Peter Meiszner during Thursday evening’s public hearing.
“I just think this is a great project that is going to make a significant contribution to the number of new rental homes we need in Vancouver.”
Artistic rendering of 5350-5430 Heather Street, Vancouver. (Dialog/Rize Alliance)
Artistic rendering of 5350-5430 Heather Street, Vancouver. (Dialog/Rize Alliance)
Site of 5350-5430 Heather Street, Vancouver, in relation to future developments in the Oakridge Municipal Town Centre area under the Cambie Corridor Plan. (Dialog/Rize Alliance)
There are also a number of other similar multi-tower rezoning applications in the surrounding property blocks, with rental housing as the primary use within the immediate area. This is all in accordance with the City’s Cambie Plan.
The project’s total floor area will reach 265,000 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 6.3 times larger than the size of the land assembly. Three underground levels will accommodate 226 vehicle parking stalls and over 600 bike parking spaces.