Surrey city council granted third-reading approval on Jan. 15 to a large mixed-use development in the heart of Surrey’s downtown featuring three 56, 60 and 65-storey residential towers, a 15-storey stand-alone hotel with more than 200 rooms, substantial office space and 1,541 dwelling units.
London Station Holdings Ltd. intends to build this at 10344, 10348, 10392 and 10376 King George Boulevard (10362 King George Boulevard) and 13634, 13654 and 13664 - 104 Avenue. According to the company’s website, there is a variety of retail, restaurant and office tenants on its property, with MP Randeep Sarai’s constituency office and the Downtown Surrey Business Association among them.
The development is proposed for the southeast corner of 104 Avenue and King George Boulevard, on the site of a shopping plaza anchored by a London Drugs store.
Richard Bernstein, a principal of Chris Dikeakos Architects Inc., described it as a “very exciting project. It’s really creating almost like a new city within the city.
“It’s close to transit so it’s a great example of transit-oriented development where you can live, work and play on the same site. In addition to that, we’re creating a very nice park along Central Avenue, in front of the development, and that park will be available for everyone, all the public to use.”
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He said the roughly two-million square foot project will be built over “several” years “and it will provide many, many construction jobs and then permanent jobs once the hotel is operational, once the retail is going and then the office space as well.”
During the public hearing prior to council’s vote Fleetwood resident Richard Landale criticized a report from the Surrey school district that “gets it wrong again.”
According to the school district, it’s expected advised that about 55 school-age children will be “generated” by the development, with the expectation that 31 of these children will attend Lena Shaw Elementary, 15 will attend Guildford Park Secondary and the balance will be schooled in other districts or private schools.
“Out of 1,500 bedrooms?” Landale told council. “Send the report back for correction.”
A city staff report indicates that while the zoning bylaw requires the applicant to provide 2,369 parking spaces on site the applicant is proposing 1,999 parking spaces. “A portion of the residential visitor parking space requirement will be shared with parking spaces required for the proposed office use, due to alternate hours of use and anticipated differing temporal peak parking demands,” the report reads.
The project will come in four phases, with a mixed use tower on deck in the south-east part of the site including 466 residential dwelling units, and 9,100 square metres of commercial and office floor space. The second phase will see another mixed-use tower with 28 residential dwelling units and 13,944 square metres of commercial and office floor space built on the north-east portion of the site, phase three at the north-west will see a mixed-use tower with 547 residential dwelling units and 19,292 square metres of commercial and office floor space, and the fourth phase the hotel, with a total floor space of 15,296 square metres, at the south-west.
Also at council’s Jan. 15 meeting council approved at third reading an application by a numbered company – 1123771 B.C. Ltd. – to develop two five-storey buildings (one residential and one mixed-use) and two six-storey residential buildings, with a total of 476 dwelling units – 338 market rental and 139 market strata – as well as nearly 8,000 square feet of commercial/retail space at 12716 (12742) and 12750 King George Boulevard.
Landale – who speaks to almost all development applications before council at public hearings – slammed this one.
“Shame on the developer, straddling the SkyTrain guideway with residential housing along the new 111A Avenue,” he told council. “The noise levels from accelerating and de-accelerating trains will dominate the low traffic volume peak hours well into the evening.”