It's been a very busy year for Vancouver-based real estate developers PCI Developments and Low Tide Properties, who have now unveiled their third joint project in 2024.
This latest effort is set for 2315 West 4th Avenue in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, at the northwest corner of the intersection with Vine Street.
The property is currently occupied by a Safeway and its surface parking lot that the partners acquired for $90 million back in January. The partners acquired the property from Safeway's parent company Sobeys, through SDLP Land Holdings Inc., according to an H1 report published by commercial real estate brokerage Avison Young.
BC Assessment values the property, which consists of two parcels with the same address, at $87,195,300 and $12,149,500, for a total valuation of $99,344,800, and the properties are now owned by the partners through 2315 West 4th Investments Ltd.
The developers submitted their development permit application on November 12, according to the City of Vancouver records, and their proposal conforms to the existing C-2B zoning, thus not requiring rezoning. The City has yet to publish the application, which was prepared and designed by MCMP Architects, according to an application booklet provided to STOREYS.
For the site, PCI Developments and Low Tide Properties are planning a large courtyard-style building that would reach nine storeys along W 3rd Avenue, six storeys along Vine Street, and five storeys along W 4th Avenue. The building has a proposed floor space ratio of 3.70.
View of the proposed building at 2315 W 4th Avenue from W 3rd Avenue. / MCMP Architects, Low Tide Properties, PCI Developments
View of the internal courtyard. / MCMP Architects, Low Tide Properties, PCI Developments
The building would include 385 rental units comprised of 72 studio units, 176 one-bedroom units, 103 two-bedroom units, and 24 three-bedroom units, plus 10 additional townhouses. Additionally, the project will also include a new Safeway that spans just over 42,000 sq. ft, as well as 18,185 sq. ft of additional retail space on the ground level.
In terms of parking, PCI and Low Tide have proposed 388 vehicle parking spaces and 957 bicycle storage spaces across a two-level underground parkade.
View of the proposed building from the corner of W 4th Avenue and Vine Street. / MCMP Architects, Low Tide Properties, PCI Developments
View of the proposed building from along W 4th Avenue. / MCMP Architects, Low Tide Properties, PCI Developments
This latest proposal by PCI Developments and Low Tide Properties comes after the two partners submitted their rezoning application earlier this year for a three-tower project at the future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station. Soon afterwards, they then submitted their rezoning application for a three-tower project at VCC-Clark Station.
The two developers first partnered together on 565 Great Northern Way, located near those two projects and also in the area of the False Creek Flats known as South Flats. That project consisted of a seven-storey office and retail building that was completed in 2018 as well as the eye-catching red bulb-like pavilion that's home to Nemesis Coffee.
This latest proposal is also at least the third Safeway site that is the subject of an ongoing development proposal. Around this time last year, BGO (formerly BentallGreenOak) submitted a rezoning application for 4545 W 10th Ave in West Point Grey, which was formerly home to a Safeway that closed in 2018.
Then, of course, there is the Safeway next to Commercial-Broadway Station, which has been the subject of a rezoning application by Westbank and Crombie REIT that has been revised numerous times over the years, most recently in June.
