VancouverMETRO VANCOUVER NEWS
Commercial-Broadway rental tower approved, with study on future SkyTrain expansion
Vancouver council approved a 31-storey rental tower beside Commercial-Broadway Station, subject to a 12-month study on preserving room for a future platform and pedestrian bridge.
Vancouver City Council has approved in principle a rezoning application for a 31-storey mixed-use rental tower next to Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain Station, while requiring further work on whether the building can preserve space for a future station expansion.
The project at 2516 Commercial Dr. and 1704 East Broadway, at the southeast corner of the intersection, is being advanced by Siddoo Properties and designed by DA Architects + Planners. The 92-metre tower would contain 207 secured market-rental homes: 25 studios, 103 one-bedroom units, 53 two-bedroom units and 26 three-bedroom units.
Its podium would include 1,600 square feet of retail or restaurant space, resident amenities, 8,700 square feet of community social-service space and 10,200 square feet of office space. The social-service space is proposed for a nominal $1 lease to the City of Vancouver for at least 60 years or the building’s life.
City staff warned that the proposal as designed could eliminate the ability to add an outbound Expo Line platform and another pedestrian overpass to the Millennium Line platforms. The future configuration would increase capacity by allowing passenger use of both sides of trains, similar to the additional inbound platform and bridge built in 2019.
The developer, City staff and TransLink must spend the next 12 months examining the technical feasibility, cost, footprint and timing of reserving space in the lower eastern side of the building. A volumetric statutory right-of-way may be secured, and staff say resulting changes could be substantial enough to require another rezoning amendment.
It remains uncertain whether the expansion will proceed. Commercial-Broadway is a major Expo and Millennium Line interchange, with demand expected to rise after the Broadway extension to Arbutus opens in late 2027 and potentially with a future UBC extension. A forecast cited in the report projects more than 31,000 weekday boardings by 2045, compared with about 20,000 in 2025.