West End tower proposal offers insights into the city’s shifting pattern of development

Since 2018, the lot at 1111 Broughton has stood empty after a fire destroyed the more than 100-year-old building that previously stood there. After years of inaction, a redevelopment plan for the site was submitted to the city back in January.

That plan calls for a 25-storey apartment tower with 136 rental units, just about all of which would be either studios or one-bedrooms. What makes this project a little bit different from some others in the West End is that it’s led by The Bloom Group, a nonprofit organization that already operates the Nicholson Tower, which is just a 10-minute walk away at 1115 Nelson St.

Similar to the Nicholson Tower, the planned Broughton tower would consist of social housing — homes that are partially subsidized by the government, to make them more affordable. The target tenants would likely be people with low to moderate incomes who would apply for any vacant units through the BC Housing Registry.

Designed by architecture firm Arcadis, the apartments would range from around 400 to 700 square feet, with some shared community spaces on both the ground floor and an outdoor garden area near the top of the building. 

Since the city has not yet officially approved the project (it’s been waiting in the active application stage for a little over six months now), there’s no publicly shared time frame as to how long the construction process might take.

Perhaps the most notable part of this application, though, is how the project showcases the shifting guidelines under which these types of proposals come forward. Since the beginning of 2024 – and especially since Josh White, the city’s new GM of Planning, took over the position in May of that year – there have been some notable changes that shine through in the proposed Broughton tower.

The application (in its current form) is only possible to begin with due to the relaxation of the city’s “view cones” policies last year, which allows for greater building height in certain places. As a whole, the city is currently working to streamline the process. It’s not expected to be finished until sometime next year, but there will almost certainly be some more repealing or modifying of different design guidelines for the West End.

Another relatively recent change that is a major factor in the Broughton project is that there’s no underground parking planned for the tower, only bike stalls. That’s because, as of January 2024, there are no longer any minimums for required parking spots at new developments in either the West End or the Broadway Plan area, a roughly 500 block rectangle of land directly south of False Creek.

Given the high cost of adding extra underground lots to the potential new building and the narrowness of the site, there wouldn’t be any additional parking in the area to compensate for the major increase in homes. The city is banking on a high number of people who move to Broughton being happy not to have their own vehicle. Time will tell whether that’s the case. 

While it’s unknown just how long we’ll be waiting to hear the next update on this project, it’s certainly one to keep an eye on, as a potential sign of similar applications and developments to come.