An unexpected bevy of new rentals is coming to West Vancouver.
An approved plan to build 50 strata units at 2195 Gordon Ave. has changed so that all the apartments will be offered as rental, according to developer Darwin Construction Ltd.
That building is part of a larger project at the same address, where 165 below-market rentals and an adult day care centre are being built on the north side of the site. That portion is overseen by Kiwanis North Shore Housing Society.
Both parts of the plan were approved in tandem by West Van council, which offered long-term leases of its property to the developers.
The switch from strata to rental is due to a surge in demand for people on the North Shore looking to downsize, said Oliver Webbe, spokesperson for Darwin.
“I would say this is a demographic that would be, on average, in their early 70s,” he said. “It’s a way for them to downsize, sell their home, have some equity, and they like the freedom of renting.”
That kind of move could allow them to perhaps have a winter home somewhere warmer they could visit, Webbe said.
The local condo market has been cooling, while rental has been heating up, he added.
“Especially the pre-sale condo market is quite slow due to the significant increase in interest rates,” he said.
Darwin has hard evidence of the trend of older homeowners looking to rent, Webbe said.
“We just finished a new rental building on 21st and Lonsdale, and to our surprise, there is a much older demographic moving into the building,” he said. “The majority of the downsizers were coming from Edgemont, Lynn Valley, and some people from West Vancouver, so it surprised us with the demographic of renters.”
Along with this aging demographic, Webbe said many younger residents – like Capilano University students – are also looking to rent.
“There’s a very, very shallow supply of rental housing across the North Shore. And there’s the demand for people to live here and not necessarily want to buy condos in this market,” he said.
That’s why Darwin is building almost exclusively rental developments for the foreseeable future, Webbe said.
The south building at 2195 Gordon Ave. – dubbed Weston Place – is slated for completion in 2027, and applications opened to prospective residents earlier this week.
Webbe said he expects to have one or two thousand applications by the time doors open.
Kiwanis affordable rental going ahead as planned
Despite changes to the southern building, the $72-million Kiwanis portion is moving ahead as planned, said Stefan Baune, the society’s executive director.
“Kiwanis has already started the construction of the 156-unit development and the adult day centre, and both buildings are already framed,” he said.
The project has been touted by council as aiming to provide homes for “missing middle” renters, such as firefighters, police and teachers who work in the district. It broke ground in November 2023.
The apartments will be spread across two six-storey, wood-frame buildings. They will rent at around 75 per cent of market rates, ranging from roughly $1,300 to $3,000 per month, according to Kiwanis.
The apartments are geared toward households earning between $51,000 and $173,800 – the latter amount being the maximum income for an applicant to qualify.
More than half of the units will be two- and three-bedroom apartments designated for families.
