Last year, Vancouver’s population increased by 30,762 people, according to city census data. As our city’s population continues to grow, it’s important to prepare for new booms by envisioning and planning for what new members of the community will need to live, work and play.
In June 2022, the City of Vancouver approved the final version of the Broadway Plan, whose goal is to develop housing, employment, infrastructure, and services along the Broadway corridor in parts of Kitsilano, Fairview, and Mount Pleasant. The plan has been built around the construction of the SkyTrain Millennium Line Broadway Extension, due to open in 2025.
To get an expert opinion on the Broadway Plan and how it will fit in with a growing population, we spoke with Darrell Hurst, Senior Managing Director of Vancouver Brokerage Operations with miners — one of Canada’s leading commercial real estate companies.
“This plan is not something recent. This has been in the works for over a decade. It has been given careful consideration.” hurst tells the daily hive. “The plan that the City of Vancouver has now come up with is to address, not only the need for commercial space, but also the lack of housing; As we know, that’s a critical problem that we have in Vancouver and throughout the region. .”
The Broadway Plan covers nearly 500 blocks and aims to add 30,000 new housing units, accommodate 50,000 new residents, and create more than 40,000 jobs. One of the ways you will achieve this is through increased density in area.
“As the city continues to grow, there is a need for both a vibrant community and housing in all facets, and the commercial components that go with it,” says Hurst. “Vancouver as a city has so many great qualities, but it has its limitations, and that really is in its geography. We have the water and the mountains, so their ability to grow within the peninsula is restricted; so another way we can address this is through additional density and that is what the City is trying to do with this plan.”
As he points out, any plan or vision for a city’s future urban environment will require a coordinated strategy. “[The Broadway Plan] it has involved an incredible amount of input from various stakeholders, whether it be the real estate and development communities, commercial space owners and occupants, or residents. Sure, there is always resistance at some level to change and evolution, but the plan is really anchored in the city’s desire to address the need for additional housing and employment spaces, and to continue to evolve in terms of its vibrant communities.”
These vibrant communities will be complete neighborhoods that meet people’s needs, with essential goods and services accessible within a 15-minute radius of their homes. Us are Already seeing these types of communities pop up via Canada, the U.S, Y even all over the world. TEast “15 minutes cities” are being imagined by the future in organize a accommodate anticipated increase.
“We will see a much larger increase in mixed-use projects. We’ve seen this downtown, we’ve seen it in other areas throughout the Vancouver metro region, where you see mixed uses like hotels, mixed with residential, mixed with retail and offices,” says Hurst. “This is how the city will achieve its goals and objectives, through this increased densification and variety of zoning and uses. As an example, we’ve seen the evolution of the Mount Pleasant area: there’s been tremendous growth in that area. And that is anchored in these mixed-use developments.”
Essentially, the Broadway Plan presents the opportunity to create an ideal urban experience that serves all the people who live, work and visit the area. It’s creating a place where people really want to be.
With projects like the Broadway Plan revitalizing the urban environment for generations to come, Hurst says Vancouver can be “promoted as a leader, when it comes to urban centers, for creating really vibrant communities.”
For more expert information on the Broadway Plan and the commercial real estate space, click here.
