The area around the Millennium Line’s Burquitlam Station is quickly evolving into a dense new community, and a new proposal recently submitted to the City of Coquitlam seeks to add to that density.

Local developer Amacon’s rezoning application for a 1.6-acre site at 500 Foster Avenue and 633 North Road – the southeast corner of the intersection of North Road and Foster Avenue, about two blocks south of the nearest SkyTrain station – envisions a 41-storey tower with 304 homes, including 295 market residential units, five market live-work units, and four market townhomes.

Existing condition

Future condition

The unit mix for the tower is 138 one-bedroom units, 136 two-bedroom units, and 30 three-bedroom units.

There will also be a six-storey, low-rise building containing 93 purpose-built rental units, with the unit mix set at 17 studio units, 49 one-bedroom units, 17 two-bedroom units, and 10 three-bedroom units. These new rental units will offset the demolition of two existing residential buildings on the development site that have 89 rental units combined.

Some of the future redevelopments in the area incorporate significant commercial and institutional spaces, but this project will only contain 1,700 sq. ft. of non-residential uses on the ground floor for retail.

Designed by Chris Dikeakos Architects, the tower’s architecture is expected to be a neighbourhood standout due to special structural columns at the top of the tower that are highlighted by special nighttime lighting. Additionally, several floors near the mid-height area of the tower on the North Road side are uniquely setback, providing the western facade with a contrasted appearance with the lower and upper sections.

Significant amenity spaces totalling 21,711 sq. ft. of amenity floor area are proposed, although they are separated and located within the respective market tower and rental low-rise buildings.

For the tower, amenities include indoor spaces with a games room, think lab, meeting room, multi-purpose room, fitness area with change rooms, kids play area, and a lounge with kitchen. Outdoor spaces consist of a swimming pool, outdoor dining area, socializing space, and a children’s play area.

With the rental building’s amenity spaces, there will be a meeting room, study lounge with kitchenette, fitness facilities, and an outdoor area with a courtyard.

The redevelopment provides 363 vehicle parking spaces for the tower and 85 vehicle parking spaces for the rental building.

The gross floor area for the project on its site is 351,000 sq. ft., giving the two-building redevelopment a floor area ratio (FAR) density of 5.0 FAR. To achieve this density, Amacon will need to provide the municipal government with $13.34 million in density bonus funds and $301,500 in community amenity contribution funds.

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