Townhouse neighbourhood north of Langara Golf Course eyed for redevelopment | Daily Hive

Conceptual artistic rendering of the Langara Estates One redevelopment for marketing illustrative purposes only. Not the actual form of development. (CBRE)

An entire neighbourhood of low-storey structures comprised of townhomes, immediately northwest of Langara Golf Course, is being eyed for its redevelopment potential into high-density, tower-based uses.

No formal application has been submitted to the City of Vancouver, but one of the largest multi-family listings by commercial real estate firm CBRE Vancouver is for a land assembly of the addresses 302-450 Greensboro Place, 6601-6633 Turnberry Crescent, and 320-340 Wethersfield Drive.

Collectively, the 11 buildings with 42 stratified townhouse units that occupy this listed 5.6 acre land assembly are known as Langara Estates One.

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According to BC Assessment, the assortment of 1979-built properties carry a combined assessed value of over $89 million, based on the understanding of the limitations of what can be built on the site.

langara estates one vancouver redevelopment

Site of Langara Estates One. (CBRE)

Site of Langara Estates One. (Google Maps)

While this property is certainly within the City’s Cambie Corridor Plan (CCP) area, the plan did not prescribe the potential form for redevelopment of this townhouse neighbourhood north of the golf course.

The property of Langara Estates One is also not deemed to be a “Unique Site” within the CCP where larger properties can be considered for more comprehensive, larger redevelopments on a site-to-site basis. However, the South Vancouver manor and Langara YMCA just north of Langara Estates One were designated as a “Unique Site” in the area plan.

Based on precedents for rezoning, CBRE anticipates Langara Estates One can be redeveloped into towers up to 18 storeys, and with a total floor area of up to 735,000 sq ft — more than nine times larger than the floor area of 80,700 sq ft of the existing buildings. The earliest attempt for this land assembly listing based on potential redevelopment dates back to just before the pandemic.

Conceptual artistic rendering of the Langara Estates One redevelopment for marketing illustrative purposes only. Not the actual form of development. (CBRE)

Langara Estates One is just a four-minute walk from SkyTrain’s Langara-49th Avenue Station. Under the Cambie Corridor Plan, three sites immediately adjacent to the station entrance building are prescribed to feature the tallest building heights in the transit-oriented development area — up to 10 storeys only.

Earlier this year, City Council approved a 10-storey office and residential building for the northwest corner of the intersection of Cambie Street and West 49th Avenue. In another decision in 2021, it approved a relaxation allowing a taller residential building of 14 storeys immediately east of the station entrance building.

Under its “Large Site” designation, the YMCA of Greater Vancouver Properties Foundation is proposing to redevelop the Langara YMCA into a 20-storey market residential tower and an 11-storey affordable rental housing building over a new and expanded YMCA community and recreational centre, including a new replacement aquatic centre.

To the east of the golf course, the approved tower heights for the added infill development to the Langara Gardens complex will reach up to 28 storeys. Earlier this year, City Council approved a revised rezoning for Pearson Dogwood, allowing more height — up to 35 storeys — to accommodate 265,000 sq ft of additional rental housing.

To the east, Langara College is well-suited for a major expansion over the longer term, after City Council’s 2021 approval of its rezoning application to expand its academic campus from 815,500 sq ft to 1.45 million sq ft.

Over the past decade, there were also some discussions by municipal politicians to explore downsizing the City-owned golf course to accommodate other recreational uses and potentially housing, but those talks did not lead to any real action on considering new uses.

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