A vast development to expand Metropolis is part of a development to expand Metrotown into a downtown core in Burnaby.
CHERYL CHAN Updated: October 29, 2019
B.C.’s largest mall is set for a major transformation after Burnaby council approved a plan Monday that would transform Metropolis at Metrotown to a vibrant, mixed-use city centre as part of a larger effort to turn the Metrotown area into the city’s official downtown.
The nearly 18-hectare site — which includes the shopping mall, three office towers, 8,000 parking spaces, and a portion of the former Sears site — makes up the largest consolidated site in Metrotown and has defined the neighbourhood for the last few decades.
“It’s the heart of the town centre,” said Ed Kozak, Burnaby’s director of planning. “It’s important not only because of its size, but also of the transformation that would occur on the site. It would set the stage for the (Metrotown) downtown neighbourhood in the master plan.”
Instead of just being a massive indoor mall, the site, which is located next to busy Metrotown SkyTrain station, will be more open to the community, with indoor and outdoor retail spaces, new parks and plazas and streets that are pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly, thousands of new residential units, and possibly a performance and events space.
“It’s an effort, essentially, to turn the mall inside out,” Kozak said of the long-term vision.
Monday’s council vote will allow city staff to work with property owner Ivanhoe Cambridge to create a Metropolis master plan, which would align with the area’s broader Metrotown master plan, which was adopted by council in 2017.
Residential units make up a major component of the site, fulfilling the city’s goal in expanding overall housing and rental housing stock in Metrotown.
Following a new zoning bylaw, 20 per cent of all units built on the site will be designated as rentals, said Kozak, adding most of them will be affordable, at rates about 20 per cent below the CMHC average, or about 40 to 50 per cent below market average.
“Our mayor and council are extremely concerned as the area redevelops that the people who live there won’t be given an opportunity to continue to live there,” he said. “By allowing these types of housing, it increases that opportunity and meets the goal of the Metrotown downtown plan.”
Graeme Silvera, vice-president of retail development at Ivanhoe Cambridge, said preliminary plans call for about 15,600 residential units to be built at the site. In comparison, the former Expo lands on the north shore of False Creek created about 7,800 units. “This shows you the scale of what we are looking at.”
The city is also working with the developer to meet sustainability requirements, including rain gardens and a 40 per cent tree canopy to break up the pavement-dominated landscape.
For shopping aficionados worried about the future of the mall itself, Silvera says the mall is here to stay.
“The heart of the plan will have an enclosed retail mall within it,” similar to how Pacific Centre mall forms an integral part of downtown Vancouver, he said.
But over time, the goal is to transform what is primarily an indoor shopping centre to a 50/50 mix of interior and outdoor retail. Parking will also eventually be reduced.
The first phase of the plan is a partnership with Concord Pacific, which owns the former Sears site, to develop the Kingsway frontage of the mall, adding a new street and two-level retail podium that’ll connect two parts of the mall from Old Navy and Chapters to the food court, as well as new office spaces and two new residential towers.
Construction isn’t expected until late 2021 or early 2022. No changes are expected to the south side of the mall until at least past 2030.