Dan Fumano: VCC’s ‘trail-blazing’ plan includes thousands of homes for East Vancouver
One of Vancouver’s largest and most interesting new real estate proposals comes not from a typical development company, but a school.
Vancouver Community College, which has a history stretching back more than a century as an educational institution, is eyeing its first residential real estate venture — and it’s a major one.
The first phase of VCC’s planned redevelopment of its East Vancouver property was the subject of a press conference last week, where B.C. Premier David Eby appeared on the campus announcing an investment in a new facility.
That new building, which is also the subject of a report going to Vancouver council next week, is touted as an exciting future hub for clean-energy technology education. But it is also only one early — albeit crucial — piece of VCC’s much larger vision for the rest of the 3.1-hectare campus.
Vancouver Community College president and CEO Ajay Patel said the province’s commitment of $271 million toward VCC’s new Centre for Clean Energy and Automotive Innovation — 93 per cent of the total $291 million capital cost — enables the college to move forward with the next, larger part of its plan, which includes both new educational space as well as a series of residential towers of up to 25 storeys that could include more than 3,300 homes.
