New Westminster Updates

[jollyburger]

Opens early 2026

https://www.fraserhealth.ca/news/2025/Ju...spital-redevelopment-June-project-update

[madog222]

An item in this week's council meeting notes that Quadreal is actively working on a proposal for 611 Agnes.

[madog222]

From the city's list of active projects, I should have checked before.

611 Agnes is a 303 residential unit mixed use tower.

801 Columbia, the empty lot at Columbia and 8th street, has a 42 storey mixed use tower proposed.

[gaviscon]

Originally Posted by madog222

801 Columbia, the empty lot at Columbia and 8th street, has a 42 storey mixed use tower proposed.

This site deserves a landmark

[mcj]

First Capital taking another run at it. There was a 30 ish tower proposal that appeared briefly on the projects on the go page a few years back that disappeared. I wonder how long the city will continue to tell them to kick rocks. Could also be why they've been keeping the station area a bit better kept recently to garner some brownie points.

Also noticed all mentions of Sapperton Green have been removed from the city's projects site.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by mcj

Also noticed all mentions of Sapperton Green have been removed from the city's projects site.

It was moved to the archive section of Be Heard New West, 2 years ago iirc. It looks like they are still working on migrating projects into the new website.

[Lexus]

2025, Sep 28

Brewery District Building #8
230 Keary Street

Untitled by Lexus LX 700, on Flickr

Untitled by Lexus LX 700, on Flickr

The older building next to the new hospital has been demolished.

Untitled by Lexus LX 700, on Flickr

Untitled by Lexus LX 700, on Flickr

[officedweller]

The hospital turned out okay (better than their previous expansion, and nicer than St. Paul's).

[Lexus]

2025, Oct 11

808 Royal Avenue (Douglas College)

Untitled by Lexus LX 700, on Flickr

821 Victoria Street, 33-Storey Rental

Untitled by Lexus LX 700, on Flickr

[madog222]

More details on 801 Columbia in next week's council meeting.

Commercial on the first two floors with 303 rental units above. Zero vehicle parking and 482 bike spaces proposed.
Height is ~137m with density at 32.5 FSR.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by madog222

More details on 801 Columbia in next week's council meeting.

Commercial on the first two floors with 303 rental units above. Zero vehicle parking and 482 bike spaces proposed.
Height is ~137m with density at 32.5 FSR.

32.5 FSR has to be the densest lot in New Westminster by a good measure? Approving this would set an expectation from developers that they could completely ignore the Columbia Street Historic Precinct requirements... I want to be YIMBY about this but this really doesn't seem to include enough public benefit to justify such a large exemption.

From the attachments of the meeting agenda:

PROPOSAL

The applicant currently proposes a 42-storey mixed-use development with a total FSR of 32.5, of which 24.8 FSR would be secured market rental residential and 0.7 FSR would be retail space. The current proposal includes 303 market rental units with the following unit mix: one studio unit (0.3%), 210 one-bedroom units (69.6%), 62 twobedroom units (20.5%), and 30 three-bedroom units (9.9%). This results in 92 units (30.4%) with two or three bedrooms. The proposed unit mix does not meet the new Family Friendly Housing Policy required but does meet the Family-Friendly Housing Policy for secured rental projects that were in effect at the time of the original application submission.

The building would consist of a two-storey podium with retail at grade and on the second level, including an upper level restaurant patio facing Columbia Street. Residential units would be located above the podium in a tower format, with private rooftop amenities including landscaped seating and play areas. A publicly accessible elevator is proposed, connecting Columbia Street to the New Westminster SkyTrain Station concourse. Public realm improvements along Columbia and Eighth Streets would include widened sidewalks, street trees, and integrated public art to reinforce the historic character of the Columbia Street precinct.

No residential vehicle parking is proposed, consistent with the site’s Tier 1 TOD Area designation, where residential parking is not required. A total of 482 bicycle parking spaces are proposed (16 short-term and 466 long-term), which is 65 long-term stalls below Zoning Bylaw requirements. Commercial and accessible parking remain subject to Zoning Bylaw and BC Building Code provisions. One commercial loading space is included, with compliance to be confirmed through the review process. Staff would continue to work with the applicant to address commercial parking supply, expand bicycle parking, and strengthen Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures.

Public realm improvements would include widened sidewalks, new street trees, and integrated art and design features that complement and reinforce the historic character of the Columbia Street precinct.

[PBlonde]

Originally Posted by mcj

32.5 FSR has to be the densest lot in New Westminster by a good measure? Approving this would set an expectation from developers that they could completely ignore the Columbia Street Historic Precinct requirements... I want to be YIMBY about this but this really doesn't seem to include enough public benefit to justify such a large exemption.

From the attachments of the meeting agenda:

When was the last time a 32.5FSR was approved anywhere in the lower mainland? That is an an incredibly amount of density.

[rickvug]

Originally Posted by mcj

32.5 FSR has to be the densest lot in New Westminster by a good measure? Approving this would set an expectation from developers that they could completely ignore the Columbia Street Historic Precinct requirements... I want to be YIMBY about this but this really doesn't seem to include enough public benefit to justify such a large exemption.

I see from the report that the original 2023 proposal from the applicant was a 21 floor 143 unit strata development at 14.91 FSR. So the city is giving over twice the amount of density and is not requiring amenity contributions in return for the development becoming purpose built rental. I'm glad to see that the region is now seeing a lot more PBR but policies like this now feel out of alignment in the opposite direction. PBR is about all the development that is getting off the ground now. I also worry about not enough amenity dollars to support such a high density population cluster. Downtown New West around the station is already so dense. Adding more 20 story mid-rise buildings would be a welcome addition vs. everything going 40+ floors from here on out.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by rickvug

I see from the report that the original 2023 proposal from the applicant was a 21 floor 143 unit strata development at 14.91 FSR. So the city is giving over twice the amount of density and is not requiring amenity contributions in return for the development becoming purpose built rental. I'm glad to see that the region is now seeing a lot more PBR but policies like this now feel out of alignment in the opposite direction. PBR is about all the development that is getting off the ground now. I also worry about not enough amenity dollars to support such a high density population cluster. Downtown New West around the station is already so dense. Adding more 20 story mid-rise buildings would be a welcome addition vs. everything going 40+ floors from here on out.

The original original proposal was to build a 3-storey Craft Beer Market at that location. That was after the city sold them the lot for a cool $1.95M under the impression it would be a small commercial building. When it was originally supposed to become a community centre/public plaza space. Kind of ridiculous that they claim now even adding a staircase would compromise the project's economic viability, when they got the lot for so cheap under what are now false pretenses. The city really should be at least demanding an amenity contribution for the difference between the sale price that assumed a 3-storey development, and the land value with a 42-storey development. This all just reeks of corruption.

“The property is under contract for sale to First Capital, however title does not transfer until after the building has been completed,” said Jim Lowrie, the city’s director of engineering. “First Capital has until Dec. 31, 2018 to complete the building. If the building is completed earlier, transfer of title will also occur earlier. This does not affect the purchase price.”

- from the first article. I guess that was never actually enforced, great job City of New Westminster!

[officedweller]

It says they are installing an elevator from the street to the SkyTrain concourse.
The existing elevator is at the other end of the station.

Ordinarily I would think a plaza at the base of the tower would be desirable, but with crime these days, I doubt any Strata would want an area that may encourage loitering on the premises.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by officedweller

It says they are installing an elevator from the street to the SkyTrain concourse.
The existing elevator is at the other end of the station.

Ordinarily I would think a plaza at the base of the tower would be desirable, but with crime these days, I doubt any Strata would want an area that may encourage loitering on the premises.

Yeah aware of the elevator, there's one thing they're contributing the better the area. This property is owned by the same company that owns the open air mall at the station that already exists, and their response to commercial tenants (from speaking with business owners there who have gone out of business) has been to raise rents despite having multiple empty storefronts, not deal with the existing riff raff and rampant theft issues, or do much upkeep at all. They only recently painted the place for the first time in at least 5 years since they want to push this through. IMO, there's very little good faith to go off of for this 32.5 FSR proposal without delivering more public benefit.

Other developments nearby have added park or plaza space for much less density without issue.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by PBlonde

When was the last time a 32.5FSR was approved anywhere in the lower mainland? That is an an incredibly amount of density.

The eastern half of the Bay parkade site proposal with the two shorter towers is at 31.3 FSR.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by PBlonde

When was the last time a 32.5FSR was approved anywhere in the lower mainland? That is an an incredibly amount of density.

Generally, taller towers are on larger sites and so end up with 'normal' FSR. Vancouver House is around 18 FSR for example, and Paradox (Trump) is 20.59. The few very high FSR buildings that exist have been when you get a tall building on a very small site. The Residences at the Hotel Georgia has a density of 30.68 for a 48 storey office/residential tower.

(The Bay Parkade redevelopment has a high density because the towers, if they ever get built, will be very tall with a lot of floorspace, but there's still space for a small plaza)

[DevFan101]

Originally Posted by mcj

32.5 FSR has to be the densest lot in New Westminster by a good measure? Approving this would set an expectation from developers that they could completely ignore the Columbia Street Historic Precinct requirements... I want to be YIMBY about this but this really doesn't seem to include enough public benefit to justify such a large exemption.

Isn't the ratio only that high because the lot is tiny, so it's gonna have to be a particularly tall and skinny tower to roughly match the height of the rest of the towers in the area? It's not like it's a particularly tall tower or anything. It's just because it's an exceptionally tiny lot for a tower, so it makes it an exceptional case, ratio-wise.

All of downtown New West is gonna be around 40 stories or higher eventually, and it's the height of most of the towers being built in the area anyway, so no reason to restrict to less than that height just because the lot is small. If the architects/engineers can make it work in the space, then I say go for it.

[Lexus]

2025, Oct 19

Brewery District Building #8
230 Keary Street

Untitled by Lexus LX 700, on Flickr