Wesgroup's 35 And 38-Storey Reign Towers In Burnaby Receive Final Approval

On Monday, Burnaby City Council granted final approval to Reign, a two-tower project by Vancouver-based Wesgroup Properties, whose other notable projects include the River District in Vancouver, Brewery District in New Westminster, and Inlet District in Port Moody.

Reign will sit at 6280 and 6350 Willingdon Avenue in the Metrotown neighbourhood of Burnaby, right about midway between Central Park and the Metropolis at Metrotown shopping centre.

The area, also known as the Maywood sub-neighbourhood, is inarguably the hottest area of Metrotown in terms of high-rise residential development, with some of the biggest developers in the province all having projects in the area, but has also developed a reputation in years past of being the demoviction capital of BC.

Both 6280 Willingdon and 6350 Willingdon are currently occupied by three-storey rental buildings with 58 units, which were constructed in 1968 and 1969, respectively, according to BC Assessment, who values each property at $34,886,000.

The 6280 and 6350 Willingdon site in Burnaby.(Chris Dikeakos Architects / Wesgroup Properties)

In their place, Wesgroup Properties will now be constructing two high-rise towers with a total of 617 strata condominiums, 116 rental units (replacing the 116 within the existing buildings), and total density of 7.13 FSR.

The South Tower (6350 Willingdon) will rise 35 storeys, including an eight-storey podium, and house 260 market strata units, consisting of 26 studio units, 130 one-bedroom units, 78 two-bedroom units, and 26 three-bedroom units. The South Tower will also house the 116 rental replacement units, which will consist of 92 one-bedroom units and 24 two-bedroom units.

The North Tower (6280 Willingdon) will then rise 38 storeys, including a two-storey podium, and house 357 market strata units, consisting of 35 studio units, 179 one-bedroom units, 107 two-bedroom units, and 36 three-bedroom units.

Each tower will include a five-level underground parkade, which will provide a total of 804 vehicle parking spaces and 1,735 bicycle parking spaces.

The two Reign towers would sit among several other high-rise towers that are at various stages of the development process, incuding a completed 40-storey tower to the north and a planned 30-storey tower to the south.

Rendering of the row of towers along Willingdon Avenue.(Chris Dikeakos Architects / Wesgroup Properties)

The South Tower's eight-storey podium.(Chris Dikeakos Architects / Wesgroup Properties)

The accessway and outdoor space between the two Reign towers.(Chris Dikeakos Architects / Wesgroup Properties)

Vancouver-based Chris Dikeakos Architects is serving as the architect of Reign, who have designed a significant portion of the ongoing high-rise projects in Burnaby.

"The design incorporates fully wrapping the envelope with strong horizontal balcony elements with curved corners," the architects said. "These curved corners acts to soften the buildings response to the existing geometric urban forms. The towers are equally balanced with the same treatment and they speak harmoniously to one another, but at the same time the unique and distinctive design respects the surrounding urban context."

They also note that the height of the two towers are broken up into compartment-like volumes — like cubes stacked perfectly on top of one another.

For Wesgroup, the Reign towers represent their first project in the Metrotown neighbourhood. They first proposed the project to the City of Burnaby in 2020 and received conditional approval in February 2023. It's unclear when construction will commence, but the South Tower launched presales in this past fall and the North Tower is expected to launch as well this spring, according to real estate marketing and sales firm MLA Canada.