As the Wesbrook skyline changes, more change is on the way.
The tower at Birney Avenue and Webber Lane is nearing its final height and the large construction site on the east side of Wesbrook Mall between Gray Avenue and Binning Avenue is looking less like a jumble of heavy equipment.
As those projects near completion, construction is slated to start on another tower and townhouse development at Ross Drive and Gray Avenue.
Those projects will pale in comparison to what may come next. In a matter of a few months, the campus and community planning unit of UBC will have completed a full draft of plans for Wesbrook South. The plan is expected to go before the property committee of the UBC Board of Governors for approval in early June.
Wesbrook South encompasses the stretch of land between the current construction site on the east side of Wesbrook Mall, and borders on the south at TRIUMF research centre. From the end of October 2024 to mid-November, the key elements of the draft plan were the subject of consultations with the board of the University Neighbourhoods Association and community members. The consultations included a survey, workshops, and open house and a walking tour.
Feedback from the consultations covered parks and a new ecological park at the edge of Pacific Spirit Park, the provision of retail space and community amenities, a priority on more housing and human-scale development, as well as transit and walkways.
As the draft plan is developed, a number of issues will be addressed. Campus and community planning officials say these include “housing, amenities and services, green and open space, rainwater management and climate adaptation, and mobility, streets and parking.”
“Parking availability continues to be a concern in the community,” Paul Thorkelsson, the UNA’s chief administrative officer, said. There is also a lack of adequate unloading space for deliveries.
“The UNA is actively working with UBC on this aspect as part of new development approvals and on new approaches in developed areas to address this issue,” Thorkelsson said.
The full draft plan will be shared with the UNA board in late March before the plan goes to the UBC board of directors.
But even though the plan is still in draft form, there are strong hints of what the south campus will look like in years to come.
The hints are contained in Campus Vision 2050, which formed the basis of the university’s land use plan, approved by the Board of Governors and the provincial government last year.
“A southward expansion of Wesbrook Place Neighbourhood will include approximately 1.3 million sq. ft. (120,800 sq. m.) of new housing beyond the current neighbourhood plan, or about 1,300 units,” according to the description in Campus Vision.
As is the case in elsewhere in Wesbrook, the housing will be a mix of towers and midrise buildings. But the plan foresees towers rising as high as 39 storeys. They will be ranged along the forest edge and will increase in height toward the southern end of the new neighbourhood.
The new neighbourhood will add almost 3,000 residents. Campus and community planning officials say the final plan will take into account social and physical infrastructure including transit, parking, and cycle and pedestrian movement. The plan includes a new school on the lot now reserved for it at Birney Avenue and Ross Drive.
In the meantime, these are the projects soon to be built or now under construction:
Lot 6 (Wordsworth):
- Located on Birney Avenue at Ross Drive
- A market residential project with a 16-storey tower and 22 three-storey townhouses
- 222 units in total
- Status: under construction
- Anticipated completion date: Fall–winter 2025
- For more information, visit https://planning.ubc.ca/lot6WP
BCR 5-6:
- Located on Wesbrook Mall at Binning Road
- An 18-storey market rental tower and two six-storey faculty and staff buildings
- 515 units plus space for a daycare
- The BCR 5 and BCR 6 lots were combined and a development permit was issued under BCR 6
- Status: under construction
- Anticipated completion date: Fall 2025
- For more information: https://planning.ubc.ca/wesbrook-place-lot-bcr6
Lot 26 (Exeter):
- Located at the corner of Ross Drive and Gray Avenue
- A 16-storey tower and eight townhouses of three storeys
- 222 units in total
- Status: construction is expected to begin in the spring or summer of 2025
- Anticipated completion date: spring–summer 2027
- For more information: https://planning.ubc.ca/Lot26
Lot BCR7:
- Located on Wesbrook Mall between Gray Avenue and Binning Avenue
- The project involves five buildings: a 14-storey market rental tower and four faculty and staff buildings of six-storeys each
- 303 units in a mix of townhouses and tower units
- Status: construction is expected to start in April 2025, but a delay is possible
- Anticipated completion date: Summer 2027
- For more information: https://planning.ubc.ca/bcr7