GWL Realty Advisors is one step closer to bringing a new purpose-built rental apartment building to market after receiving unanimous approval to move forward with increased density from the City of North Vancouver.

The site of the proposed six-storey, 91-unit apartment at 140 W. 19th St. in the Central Lonsdale neighbourhood is currently occupied by an older three-storey, 32-unit walk-up building. The existing building will be demolished to make way for the new one.

GWLRA is planning to redevelop the site on behalf of its Canada Life Real Estate Fund, which acquired it in 2022 from a private investor for $15.4 million. It’s surrounded by a range of building types, from townhomes to six-storey rental apartments.

The rezoning process required a relocation package for current tenants. 

“Looking after the existing tenants is very important and we have to be sensitive,” GWLRA vice-president of development for Western Canada Geoff Heu told RENX. “A moving allowance, compensation and the opportunity to come back to the new building is something that we've offered to the existing tenants.” 

GWLRA and its residential rental portfolio

GWLRA is a real estate investment advisor providing asset and property management, development and specialized advisory services to pension funds and institutional clients. It manages a portfolio of office, industrial, retail and multiresidential assets as well as an active pipeline of new development projects. 

Through its GWL Realty Advisors Residential Inc. subsidiary, GWLRA manages more than 10,500 rental homes across Canada.

GWLRA recently completed The Bowline, a larger six-storey rental building on E. 2nd St. in North Vancouver’s Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood.

“After we finished our 159-unit Bowline project, which was really well received, we wanted to continue developing in the market,” Heu explained. “The sub-market has some of the best rental market fundamentals in the Lower Mainland. 

“It has good planning regulations that encourage rental and a supportive mayor and city council. We want to develop more in the market, but it's difficult to get scale because all of the sites that you can buy are on the small side. It's not a market where you're building 30-storey towers or you have a lot of large sites.

"You’re buying older apartment buildings to tear down. They're all infill redevelopment sites. So for us to stay in the market, we decided to undertake a smaller project.” 

140 W. 19th St.

Planned amenities for the Integra Architecture-designed Central Lonsdale building include a tenant lounge, a fitness centre, a children's play area and places to park, repair and wash bicycles.

“It's a six-storey wood-frame building,” Heu said. “For this size, concrete construction doesn't work.” 

Ten per cent of the building’s units will be priced at 10 per cent below Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation average rental rates for the area to be in compliance with a City of North Vancouver mandate.

“The reason why we're able to make a smaller building work is because we have the other project close by,” Heu explained, referring to The Bowline. “We plan to get economies of scale by sharing management resources.

“From a development point of view, the intent is to keep a similar design template from project to project and not reinvent the concept each time, so the design team and contractor know what the expectations are.”

The size of these mid-rise apartment buildings is also appropriate for some of GWLRA’s smaller investment partners, according to Heu.

GWLRA aims to start construction at 140 W. 19th St. early in 2025 and the building is expected to take two years to complete. Lease-up is anticipated to take less than a year.

Focus on North Vancouver

“The rents are strong and they're approaching downtown Vancouver rents,” said Heu. “There's continued demand for rental into the future so we're bullish.

“We're looking to launch a couple of things in the city over the next couple of years and looking to add density to some of our other sites.”

Central Lonsdale is home to educational institutions, Lions Gate Hospital, Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre, public transit, cycling networks, shops, restaurants, amenities and services.

GWLRA is therefore searching for more similar development and redevelopment sites in the neighbourhood and the City of North Vancouver in general.

“Most of the municipalities are changing their land-use designations to support more density and rental housing,” Heu said.

In addition to The Bowline, GWLRA developed the 128-unit Chronicle apartment building at the corner of Robson and Nicola streets in downtown Vancouver in 2022. 

A GWLRA investor client also recently purchased 1525 and 1555 Robson St., a combined development site encompassing 0.77 acres in Vancouver’s West End that has a right of zoning to accommodate about 400 purpose-built rental units and more than 40,000 square feet of retail.