$500-million project will redefine gritty area

Bruce Constantineau
Sun

Artist’s rendering shows three of the nine styles of detached homes for the project

Aragon Group president Lenny Moy answers questions about Port Royal development in New Westminster

Construction is in the early stages at the Port Royal development in the Queensborough area of New Westminster that will involve a total of 1,000 new homes

A new $500-million, 1,000-home development on the eastern tip of Queensborough will transform the New Westminster industrial area into a vibrant residential community that attracts more business, New Westminster Mayor Wayne Wright said Tuesday.

“Queensborough has location, location, location,” he told a news conference where developers provided an update on Port Royal — described as the largest master-planned development in the city’s history.

“With the base of new people that will live here, it will bring in a lot of new . . . businesses.”

Aragon Group president Lenny Moy said his company’s project will be built in phases over the next five to six years, and should eventually house up to 2,500 people in a mixture of single-family homes, courtyard homes, row housing, lofts and condominiums.

He said the project will introduce two new housing concepts to B.C. — freehold courtyard homes that share a common courtyard driveway, and freehold attached row homes. The freehold status means owners will not deal with strata or maintenance fees because they own the land.

Developers have built a ferry dock on the 20-hectare site in hopes of attracting a ferry operator that will run a water transit service from Port Royal to Westminster Quay. The project also features more than five hectares of riverfront walkways and parks.

Sales begin this fall, with single-family homes ranging from 1,600 to 2,300 square feet, expected to sell in the $500,000 range.

Queensborough was known in the past mainly as a low-to-middle-income housing area, with a history tied to industrial functions such as shipyards, salmon canning, and a sawmill.

But the area has attracted a lot of new commercial real estate development in recent years, including the 2004 opening of Queensborough Landing shopping centre featuring Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Home Outfitters. Gateway Casinos also plans to build a major new casino and hotel development in Queensborough.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

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