Coquitlam's skyline continues to change with more cranes and more demand for housing as the Evergreen Line project races towards a 2017 completion date. In Port Moody, meanwhile, a slower approach is being taken, according to development permit application figures.
In Coquitlam on a late Friday afternoon, the Lougheed Heights sales centre at 581 Clarke Rd. is packed with people checking out plans for a 39-storey, 336-unit tower planned for the corner of North Road and Foster Avenue.
Across the street from the sales centre, Bosa Properties' Uptown 1 and 2 towers are under construction near Evergreen's Burquitlam Station while across town, Burke Mountain is being transformed from large-lot homes and Crown land and forest into new neighbourhoods welcoming families in houses, duplexes, townhouses and, eventually, condos.
The last two years have been strong ones for development in Coquitlam and there appears to be little sign of things slowing down, according to Doug Vance, Coquitlam's manager of building permits and inspections.
"The indicators are showing us [development] seems to be carrying forward and Coquitlam seems to be a desirable place to get to."
Last year, for example, the city saw $366.62 million worth of building permits issued, up slightly from $350.167 million in 2014. (The pinnacle year for Coquitlam appears to have been 2013, when $482 million in total value of building permits was filed with the municipality. (Building permit values include commercial, industrial and institutional construction, not just residential.)
Vance said condo towers as well as single-family homes and townhouses are on the books for the coming year.
But one of the bigger projects on the books for 2016, also spurred by the coming of the Evergreen Line, is the Marcon Clarke Homes Ltd. application to rezone lots at 559 Clarke for a 49-storey, 364-unit condo building along with a 14-storey, 108-unit rental complex.
Next door in Port Moody, which will have two Evergreen Line stations — one at Inlet Centre and another at Moody Centre, at the site of the current West Coast Express station — development has been more subdued. In 2015, the city issued permits for $21.1 million worth of construction, up from $12 million in 2014 — nothing like what is taking place in Coquitlam along the Evergreen Line.
James Stiver, PoMo's general manager of development services, said he has heard a lot of talk about land assembly taking place in the Moody Centre area, near the Evergreen Line, but speculated that developers are waiting for the area's neighbourhood plan to be completed before presenting their plans.
"That's underway now," Stiver said of the plan, noting that council gave staff until mid-year to finish it, and a market study and a view of density for the area are underway.
As well, the Coronation Park neighbourhood is still under study.
One of the bigger projects underway is a new building for Moody middle school, valued at $24 million, and the nine-storey Onni office building is taking shape in Suter Brook.
"It's a huge shot in the arm for the city to have a lot of office space close to the transit station," said Stiver.
Over in Port Coquitlam, which won't be reached by Evergreen trains, significant development is taking place, particularly in the Dominion Triangle area, where a church, industrial buildings and homes are being built.
Shawn Hagan with the city of Port Coquitlam said 100,000 sq. ft. of industrial property is under development in that area, with 345 units of multi-family apartments in development permit applications.
"It will keep us busy, it will create jobs and it will create new places for people to reside," Hagan said of the projects.
As well, the city is expecting development permit applications for 200 apartment units downtown and 160 units on the north side, not including the Dominion Triangle.
The past year saw a slight drop in the number of building permits sought for the city, $106.9 million compared to $132 million in 2014.
