By Monte Stewart

Vancouver’s ABC Party-led city council approved several development projects in its final decisions before the fall municipal election.

The flurry of approvals came during a series of council meetings and public hearings. In the final session of the term, the approvals ranged from the controversial addition and removal of rental-housing stock in various parts of the city to the preservation of a heritage building that houses a ballet academy to the redevelopment of a former sporting goods store site into a discount grocery outlet. A number of other decisions were deferred and will be considered by the next council after it is sworn in this fall.

In one of its most notable decisions, council approved the redevelopment of a former Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce branch on the southeast corner of Commercial Drive and Broadway into a major rental-housing tower next to the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station. But the approved project may need to be redesigned in accordance with the expansion of the SkyTrain station.

In a move that drew public backlash, council gave final approval to the Prior Place multi-family rental project near the new St. Paul’s Hospital site under development in Chinatown. Council approved the latest amendments to a development application that was previously granted approval in early 2026 following previous adjustments. Known as Prior Place, the 321-unit project will primarily house St. Paul’s healthcare workers and their families. Local developer Strand is developing the project.

Healthcare workers’ long commuting distances from home to work have been cited as a contributing cause of B.C.’s healthcare labour shortage. But the approval drew many complaints because Prior Place will replace an artists’ studio at the location.

In a split vote, council approved the demolition of a Mount Pleasant apartment building for conversion into a new 21-storey hotel and industrial real estate project. Plans call for the mixed-use project to include a 190-room hotel, with two floors of industrial spaces included. The project is being developed by Vancouver-based firms Nicola Wealth Real Estate and Lotus Capital.

Residents of the existing apartment building, known as Myron Manor, have complained that they will be displace without any assurance that they can obtain similarly priced housing. The building’s location is considered key to many residents, who include seniors and persons with disabilities and have nearby access to healthcare services.

But Josh Anderson’s Nicola’s vice-president of real estate told council that the company is working with municipal administrators and Myron Manor residents to exceed the requirements of the city’s resident-relocation policy tied to new developments. In accordance with development policies, the city is seeking to develop more hotel and industrial developments in and around the Broadway Corridor.

In another controversial move, the ABC-led council approval a mixed-use hotel and residential project under construction at Birch Street and Broadway on the city’s west side. The decision came after plans to redevelop a Denny’s restaurant were revamped a number of times.

In endorsing the latest revised application, council permitted the addition of a 202-room hotel, removal of 200 market-rental housing units, provision of 56 moderate-income housing units, the installation of a childcare facility and a reduction of retail space.

Previously shifted plans had called for medical-care units for Indigenous patients, social housing and seniors housing.

Coun. Mike Klassen, a member of the governing ABC Party, told Connect that council had “a really difficult time” approving the Myron Manor and Birch and Broadway projects because of questions surrounding how they fit with municipal policy and the public backlash. But council decided that they still merited approval.

In other decisions, council approved the redevelopment of the former Cyclone Taylor sporting goods store at West 49^th Avenue and Cambie Street into a Loblaw No Frills grocery store; the preservation of the Mount Pleasant heritage building that serves as home to the Goh Ballet Academy.

Meanwhile, based on a recommendation from city staff, a decision on the proposed mixed-use redevelopment of the historic 2400 Motel was deferred. The city-owned site was among locations that Mayor Ken Sim and ABC councillors had hoped to redevelop through a new city-owned market-housing company. But as Connect reported previously, the plan for the new market-housing company did not draw sufficient council support. Sim and ABC then reverted to trying to redevelop the site through the city’s public-housing corporation.

The approvals during the final session came after council approved Holborn Group’s major downtown mixed-use project. As Connect reported recently, the project will span multiple blocks and calls for hundreds of multi-residential units and hotel rooms, along with 70,000 square feet of conference space. The hotel tower is slated to be the tallest in the city and Western Canada, reaching 1,034 feet, depending on whether NavCan calls for it to be lowered shortened due to potential concerns about how it could affect air traffic.

The Holborn project calls for the city to receive a separate 272-unit social housing development located on the poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside. The final-session approvals also came after, as Connect also previously reported, council endorsed the redevelopment of the former Molson Brewery site in Kitsilano into a high-density mixed-use development that would include nearly 16,000 new multi-residential units. Because the project involves the conversion of industrial lands into other uses, it must be approved by Metro Vancouver, the umbrella organization for the region’s municipal governments.

Klassen, who is seeking re-election, said he is “very proud” of the work that ABC has done during its first term. Sim, an entrepreneur, launched ABC and brought together candidates after becoming dissatisfied with the work of previous councils and parties.

Klassen said the ABC-led council has accomplished more development-wise in recent memory than other councils, and its legacy will become apparent as the projects are built over the next four years. He cited Sim’s plan to invest $400 million in five city-owned recreational facilities in addition to the many housing approvals and revamping of the 10-year-old Downtown Eastside development policy.

Klassen contended that council boosted housing supply by following a clearly laid-out plan. He noted that spearheaded the approval of thousands of new housing units, accelerated development permitting, reduced red tape,  revised the city’s shadowing policy and hired new top development-related administrators.

“We, I think, made the right decision on some things,” said Klassen. “We tried to take a pragmatic approach to development.”

Consequently, ABC is “keeping the city prosperous and moving forward,” he added.

But Klassen noted that opposing parties could still attempt to overturn some of ABC’s approvals during the next term.