New residential-commercial development to include troubled SkyTrain station
Michael Kane
Sun
The new New Westminster Plaza 88 at New Westminster SkyTrain station is expected to transform the Royal City’s main commercial strip with a highrise residential component.
Artist’s rendition of the Plaza 88 complex proposed for Columbia Street, New Westminster’s retail corridor.
Old New Westminster will be new again with the remake of its crime-troubled SkyTrain station into a landmark commercial and residential centre, Mayor Wayne Wright promised Monday.
At 340 feet, Plaza 88 will be the highest development outside of Vancouver, a “signature statement” for a revitalized downtown, he said.
It will feature three residential towers, with a fourth to be added later, along with retail development now in the early planning stages. All will be integrated with the New Westminster SkyTrain station, which will be enclosed.
Wright said the development will provide homes for “600 good citizens who will be the eyes on the street” to deter downtown drug dealers and transform the SkyTrain station into the best on the line.
“This is just beginning of seeing the revitalization of our entire city and our waterfront,” Wright told a news conference.
Ultimately he wants the site to be fronted by a parking esplanade “in an orchard park setting” above an encapsulated Front Street truck route and railroad tracks, offering a green space connection between downtown and the bustling Fraser River.
New Westminster is experiencing a growth spurt with 1,000 new housing units under construction or being marketed downtown, and another 1,800 in the approvals process.
At the same time the heritage character of the province’s first capital is being preserved with the restoration of the Columbia Historic Area, a bridal shop mecca featuring three-storey walk-ups, antique stores and an old train station converted into a restaurant.
The city of 60,000 is forecast to house 85,000 by 2017, including many younger people who can’t afford to buy in the same neighbourhoods as their parents. The Plaza 88 development will feature one, two and three-bedroom units with prices expected to start at $179,900.
Developers the Degelder Group and Charter Pacific Developments have included a parkade in floors one through eight in each of the first three buildings. The ninth floors will contain amenities and the tenth floors and above of each of the 33, 35 and 37-storey towers will be for condominiums.
“The architecture of Plaza 88 will be impressive,” said Degelder Group president Michael Degelder. “Every suite will have stunning views of the Fraser River, Mount Baker and the North Shore mountains.”
Construction is expected to start in the fall with the first building ready for occupancy in about two years.
Wright said he is working with the federal and provincial governments, TransLink and the Greater Vancouver regional district to secure financing for a park and parking esplanade to cover a widened Front Street transportation corridor.
“The importance of this project for the entire Lower Mainland cannot be over-estimated because the 400,000 cars that come through here every day may be increased with the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge,” he said.
“The encapsulation is a must, not a maybe. It is visionary, it is viable, and it is also extremely necessary. We are getting started on New Westminster‘s biggest transformation since the [British Army] sappers first got here in the early 1800s.”
THE NEW NEW WESTMINSTER
Plaza 88 at New Westminster SkyTrain station is expected to transform the Royal City‘s main commercial strip with a highrise residential component.
Some facts about Plaza 88:
– The project will feature three towers of 33, 35 and 37 storeys, to be built at a cost of $200 million. A fourth tower is to be added later.
– The units will be one-, two- and three-bedroom condo-miniums, with prices starting at $179,900.
– Plaza 88 will be the highest development outside of Vancouver, reaching a height of 340 feet.
– The developers are Degelder Group and Charter Pacific Developments.
– Construction is expected to start in the fall with the first building ready for occupancy in about two years.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
