Surrey City Centre Redevelopment Plans

[Ramsay]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

there are a lot of Indian concerts, they often use the Bell Centre in Surrey, sometimes Rogers Arena will got some of the bigger shows but a mid size venue in Surrey would be good for those type of shows. Even some Kpop groups might find it a good size.

Definitely, even as overflow for events that can't get a spot in the existing arenas.

[Equinox71]

"Surrey council approves 25-storey tower for Guildford" - SurreyNowLeader

https://surreynowleader.com/2026/02/09/surrey-council-approves-25-storey-tower-for-guildford/

I didn't know that 104th and 140th was already considered Guildford (?).

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Equinox71

"Surrey council approves 25-storey tower for Guildford" - SurreyNowLeader

https://surreynowleader.com/2026/02/09/surrey-council-approves-25-storey-tower-for-guildford/

I didn't know that 104th and 140th was already considered Guildford (?).

I guess for the Guildford Plan it gets included in there



https://www.surrey.ca/renovating-buildin.../guildford-land-use-plans/guildford-plan

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Equinox71

"Surrey council approves 25-storey tower for Guildford" - SurreyNowLeader

https://surreynowleader.com/2026/02/09/surrey-council-approves-25-storey-tower-for-guildford/

I didn't know that 104th and 140th was already considered Guildford (?).

Where would you put the line? Growing up in Surrey that would make sense for what I would consider to start being Guildford, somewhere between 140th street and 144th street, and 96th ave for the dividing line between Guildford and Fleetwood.

[GMasterAres]

Originally Posted by mcj

Where would you put the line? Growing up in Surrey that would make sense for what I would consider to start being Guildford, somewhere between 140th street and 144th street, and 96th ave for the dividing line between Guildford and Fleetwood.

I think it is a recent Council and City change. Historically 140 to 144 has been Whalley/Surrey Central. They made changes though recently with the new land use plans to make 140th the official divider where traditionally it has been 144th.

That is very evident in the plan itself. They show Guildford and the plan, yet in the top left corner in their standard area map, the "star" showing the project location is very clearly in Whalley with the line along 144th...

They've done the same with Fleetwood. Fleetwood for years was bounded by 80th and Guildford extended all the way up to Fraser Highway then horizontal at 80th with Fleetwood being south. Now very much I think many people feel it extends further toward 88th and even 96th (Fleetwood).

Things change as areas develop. I mean there never really used to be a "Clayton Heights" area, it was always when I grew up "anything east of 176th is just called Cloverdale."

Just need to remember humans in general like making little lines on maps and giving places names.

https://www.surrey.ca/sites/default/files/planning-reports/PLR_7924-0160-00.pdf

[officedweller]

Homewood Suites by Hilton opening May 14, 2026.
in City Centre 4

We're accepting reservations for May 14, 2026 and beyond.

https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/yvrbchw-homewood-suites-surrey/

[officedweller]

Lucent
Next to Veterans Village.

January 8th
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTQsTmpkld9/?igsh=MW5oOXR2MmdlbzZ1ZQ==4

[Spr0ckets]

A couple of 'big ticket' applications for major development proposals by Wesgroup and Onni (both by Arcadis):

Onni (10520 132 St. and 13270-13352 105A Ave., Surrey)...



from:-
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/10520-13...05a-avenue-surrey-city-centre-onni-group


Wesgroup (10355 King George Blvd., Surrey.)...




from:-
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/civic-di...afeway-redevelopment-wesgroup-properties

Interesting not from the Onni proposal having a 34 year full buildout (last phase scheduled to complete in 2060.

See more at the Daily Hive.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

Wesgroup (10355 King George Blvd., Surrey.)...




from:-
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/civic-di...afeway-redevelopment-wesgroup-properties

This development not having any office space pretty much confirms there's no real interest in Surrey being a real downtown core for the region. I agree with Surrey City Staff that this shouldn't go ahead without some office if they want to actually develop this as anything different from the other vertical suburbs

Also that above grade parking really kills the urban realm of an area, we'll see if slapping a giant billboard along it makes it better.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by mcj

This development not having any office space pretty much confirms there's no real interest in Surrey being a real downtown core for the region. I agree with Surrey City Staff that this shouldn't go ahead without some office if they want to actually develop this as anything different from the other vertical suburbs

Also that above grade parking really kills the urban realm of an area, we'll see if slapping a giant billboard along it makes it better.

That's just an unrealistic expectation given the current market - that any developer is going to include that much office space in a development of this size.

Even the City staff that said that has to know this.

And not just in Surrey, but anywhere else in the metro region that's not Downtown Vancouver (....and even there, not likely so).
It would have made sense to require something like Hotel, which is a better bet for feaasibility in the current market, but there again without an established Hotelier partner to run the hotel component (and have their brand name on it), you're risking a poor ROI.

I might agree with the parking in the podium, but I imagine the reason they're going that route is to tamp down construction costs from having to excavate and construct several levels of underground parkade, and also taking advantage of the elimination of parking minimums thanks to TOA legislation given their proximity to Transit - to reduce their parking stalls count..

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by mcj

This development not having any office space pretty much confirms there's no real interest in Surrey being a real downtown core for the region. I agree with Surrey City Staff that this shouldn't go ahead without some office if they want to actually develop this as anything different from the other vertical suburbs

Also that above grade parking really kills the urban realm of an area, we'll see if slapping a giant billboard along it makes it better.

Is there a required office component that they're not adhering to?

[mcj]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

Is there a required office component that they're not adhering to?

From the DH article:

a City staff report to Surrey City Council states this overall proposal does not comply with the Official Community Plan (OCP) and Surrey City Centre Plan because it provides only about half of the required non-residential floor space and includes no office space at all.

This isn't good for a downtown core immediately adjacent to Surrey Central Station, a few blocks away sure this would make sense given the current market. However, Surrey as a municipality should be thinking longer term than the contemporary market environment.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

That's just an unrealistic expectation given the current market - that any developer is going to include that much office space in a development of this size.

Even the City staff that said that has to know this.

And not just in Surrey, but anywhere else in the metro region that's not Downtown Vancouver (....and even there, not likely so).
It would have made sense to require something like Hotel, which is a better bet for feasibility in the current market, but there again without an established Hotelier partner to run the hotel component (and have their brand name on it), you're risking a poor ROI.

I might agree with the parking in the podium, but I imagine the reason they're going that route is to tamp down construction costs from having to excavate and construct several levels of underground parkade, and also taking advantage of the elimination of parking minimums thanks to TOA legislation given their proximity to Transit - to reduce their parking stalls count..

Needs something besides purely residential and a single floor of retail. At least if you're going to have an above ground parkade to keep costs low, wrap the outside with flexible space that could be used for restaurants or other entertainment uses.

This is directly between Surrey Central Station and their new "entertainment district" to be. Making this block a multi-storey wall of entertainment would be an actual forward thinking move for the city and would count towards the non-residential uses required for the site.

[osirisboy]

I don’t mind the above grade parking. I’d like to see more of that. It can also be stuck behind interior floor place

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by mcj

From the DH article:



This isn't good for a downtown core immediately adjacent to Surrey Central Station, a few blocks away sure this would make sense given the current market. However, Surrey as a municipality should be thinking longer term than the contemporary market environment.

That's easy to say when you're not the one forking up the bucks to pay for it.
(And I don't mean "you" in particular, but more in the general sense).

It's a question the City has to answer whether it's willing to sacrifice ready and available (...and willing to move forward) developments with much needed housing, just because they lack the necessary office (or other zoning) component to fit their long-term vision,......

....or to find, or try to reach some compromise with the developers.

A similar project we worked on not far from this one, the city was fine with the developer switching several levels of office they had previously proposed into hotel and some (more) housing in their podium as the hotel fulfilled the "commercial" requirement for the zoning.
But not every developer is going to know a Hotelier to partner with to make such a switch, much less even those that would be willing to do so even if they did and could make the switch.
Mixing hotel and residential is always a tricky prospect and a lot of developers prefer not going down that route.

Originally Posted by mcj

Needs something besides purely residential and a single floor of retail. At least if you're going to have an above ground parkade to keep costs low, wrap the outside with flexible space that could be used for restaurants or other entertainment uses.

This is directly between Surrey Central Station and their new "entertainment district" to be. Making this block a multi-storey wall of entertainment would be an actual forward thinking move for the city and would count towards the non-residential uses required for the site.

I don't disagree with you for the most part in principle, and there are ways that one can get creative to deal with how to fulfil these requirements without killing the projects outright.
Remember that even switching to hotel doesn't guarantee a projects viability even in a centralized "downtown" location like this.
Hospitality is a very seasonal business and you might not want to deal with that kind of flactuation in revenue.

I would hope both sides would be able to reach a compromise to enable the project to move forward, because at the moment there is a current need in the market that does require to be fulfilled.

I think at some point in the future the office market will recover enough to make a lot of these kinds of mixed use projects viable again - just maybe not to the same levels as before.
I see a lot in the news with companies and employers (adn even the governments) demanding more and more of the workers return to in-office work, from the remote work format that mostly killed the office market post-pandemic.

[Hotwax]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

33 floor Juno project on 104th in the location of an old car wash next to a Nissan dealership.

My picture of Juno from Tuesday, 24-Feb-2026:


Enlarge | https://junosurrey.com/

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

That's easy to say when you're not the one forking up the bucks to pay for it.
(And I don't mean "you" in particular, but more in the general sense).

It's a question the City has to answer whether it's willing to sacrifice ready and available (...and willing to move forward) developments with much needed housing, just because they lack the necessary office (or other zoning) component to fit their long-term vision,......

....or to find, or try to reach some compromise with the developers.

Once a major site is residential - or so substantially residential that it makes no difference - it won't be available for commercial again for decades. Once Surrey City Centre has developed with residential buildings, especially on this scale, then it isn't a City Centre, it's another suburban residential dormitory for wherever the jobs are located.

There's a balance to be struck, but Surrey already allows residential development with the commercial space that's required, and are flexible about what the other space could be. This developement isn't even trying to meet those minimum requirements. The developer bought a City Centre site knowing what they were expected to provide, and are now trying to avoid their responsibilities of making the development part of the City Centre. 'Much needed housing' can be built in huge areas of underdeveloped Surrey that aren't the City Centre. Vancouver learned that residential will always out-bid commercial, unless the municipality only allows non-residential uses on almost every site in the CBD. That reserves future sites for market cycles that can deliver office, or hotel, or retail, or entertainment to make it a City Centre. Surrey hasn't attracted much recent office development, and still has less than Burnaby, even though they're supposed to be the region's second commercial core.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Once a major site is residential - or so substantially residential that it makes no difference - it won't be available for commercial again for decades. Once Surrey City Centre has developed with residential buildings, especially on this scale, then it isn't a City Centre, it's another suburban residential dormitory for wherever the jobs are located.

There's a balance to be struck, but Surrey already allows residential development with the commercial space that's required, and are flexible about what the other space could be. This developement isn't even trying to meet those minimum requirements. The developer bought a City Centre site knowing what they were expected to provide, and are now trying to avoid their responsibilities of making the development part of the City Centre. 'Much needed housing' can be built in huge areas of underdeveloped Surrey that aren't the City Centre. Vancouver learned that residential will always out-bid commercial, unless the municipality only allows non-residential uses on almost every site in the CBD. That reserves future sites for market cycles that can deliver office, or hotel, or retail, or entertainment to make it a City Centre. Surrey hasn't attracted much recent office development, and still has less than Burnaby, even though they're supposed to be the region's second commercial core.

I'm not disagreeing with any of that either, at all.

As I already pointed out, I believe BOTH sides have to met somewhere in the middle or as close to it as possible.
As you've correctly noted, the City is already flexible about what sort of commercial they could allow in the City Centre, and aren't necessarily married exclusively just to office use.

Obviously the developer also has to do their part and find some way of meeting the City's minimum zoning requirement for the site as well - even if it means having more retail or switching some office to hotel.

It's not an easy task for the city that has to maintain their long-term vision and planning priorities for the region that looks farther than a prevailing weak market conditions for a particular usage - while also addressing the obvious housing shortage that the entire metro region is struggling to grapple with, and in this case involving a transit-orientated and neighbouring development.

The site next door to this one a few years ago had a proposal with some office and a hotel alongside 3 residential towers which would have ticked a lot of the boxes, but given the prevailing financing climate, I would imagine it's probably as dead as most other proposals that came through the pike around the same time with signficant office component - even though it was phased to have the office section built much later.
I'd hate to see the same happen to this development proposal as well, which is why I hope they could revise their design to introduce more commercial (be it actual office, hotel or increased retail) as the city requires

[Ramsay]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

I don’t mind the above grade parking. I’d like to see more of that. It can also be stuck behind interior floor place

I wouldn't be surprised iḟ the Above Grade Parking is also a placeholder for office space, in case the city forces them to add it. At least that way it's more of a swap-a-roo instead of a complete redesign.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by kja384

That would be Centra

https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate/surrey-condo-tower-developer-defends-substantial-delay-8271949

Howard Chai reports the Centra developer is facing foreclosure on this project.