
Whitecaps Owner, Cadillac Fairview Propose Large Downtown Vancouver Waterfront Mixed-Use Project
Vancouver Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot and Cadillac Fairview, along with public and private groups, are moving forward with plans to convert the last major undeveloped area on Vancouver’s downtown waterfront into a large mixed-use hub.
According to a November internal City of Vancouver memo obtained by Connect Canada CRE, Kerfoot and CF are part of a new planning alliance that comprises private and public organizations. The group aims to develop a large mixed-use development project in the area on a tract bounded by CRAB Park on the east and Canada Place on the west.
The alliance signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on joint-planning efforts and aims to finalize a shared vision for the site by early 2025. Josh White, the city’s chief planner, sent the memo to Mayor Ken Sim and council. Postmedia also obtained a copy of the memo.
As work begins on the preliminary vision, the memo outlines several key steps, including public engagement, infrastructure planning, and collaboration with First Nations.
In a statement to Postmedia, the alliance said the project represents “a significant opportunity to create a special mix of supply-chain activities, commercial spaces, a transportation hub, housing, and public amenities and parks.” It added that public input will play a key role in shaping the vision and emphasized the essential involvement of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
In an interview with Connect Canada CRE, city Councillor Mike Klassen called the alliance’s formation “great news.” He said the group “will allow us to start the real conversations of how to make [the project] work.”
The MOU was signed in May 2024 and includes the alliance members: Kerfoot’s holding company GHD Properties and Cadillac Fairview, who are key landowners; the City of Vancouver, Transport Canada, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway and the B.C. government.
“I’m really excited [about the possibility of developing the land],” said Klassen. “This is being described as, the last great opportunity for the waterfront to create some vibrancy and it will turn into a hub for commercial activity, [public] people plazas, a transportation route and and a place for people to connect with the water.
“I think it’s a really needed piece of public realm that we can we can build that will, hopefully, rival the Shipyards at the city of North Vancouver, on the north side of Burrard Inlet, which is widely seen as some of the most beautiful public realm and publicly activated space in the metropolitan region.”
The city does not own any part of the largely non-descript tract but is providing a mix of funding and staff resources for work leading to the mixed-use project’s plan including a land-use study, community and stakeholder engagement plan and planning program scoping.
“[A development project involves], really, building over existing rail infrastructure,” said Klassen. “It would be elevated and probably built over the water’s edge, and it will encompass the Waterfront Station, which is really beautiful heritage architecture, mixed with connections to the Seabus [between downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver’s central waterfront], SkyTrain, and at some point, it may even connect to high-speed rail down the Cascadia corridor [to the U.S.]”
(Waterfront Station also serves as a terminus for the West Coast Express commuter-rail service.)
The land’s ownership is fragmented with private and public organizations holding stakes. CKPC, Transport Canada and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, also one of the owners, have operations in the area.
According to Postmedia, the alliance signals a rare collaboration after decades of stalled efforts to develop the area. In an April 2022 memo to Sim and council in 2023 obtained by Canada Connect CRE, former city chief planner Theresa O’Donnell said CKPC and the port authority previous declined to collaborate on the planning process.
Mayor Sim expressed optimism about the recent progress, calling the waterfront “a long-standing council commitment.” In an email to Postmedia, Sim said: “This area has incredible potential to become a vibrant hub for our city, and this milestone brings us closer to making that vision a reality.”
Klassen expects an eventual redevelopment proposal to receive strong support from city council and administrators.
“I think council would be very enthusiastic,” he said. “And given the fact that this work has been going on behind the scenes, driven by our planning department, I would consider them also on board with continuing to move this work forward, subject to their capacity, given that there’s a lot happening with both the Vancouver plan and the Broadway plan and many other planning initiatives.”
Postmedia reported that the redeveloped site could include a new convention centre, hotels and homes, but memos from top city planners to the mayor and council between 2022 and 2024, do not outline specific future uses. (Connect did not obtain memo attachments that may outline future land uses.)
The Vancouver Convention Centre spans two buildings, one built in 2009 and the other constructed in 1986, next to Canada Place, the eastern border of the undeveloped land. The structures are known as the new convention centre and old convention centre. Klassen believes that the city can accommodate another large venue for meetings.
“I do think that Vancouver is starting to hit the ceiling,” he said. “It’s a very popular destination for national and international conferences, and I think there’s room to grow in terms of convention centre space.”
O’Donnell’s 2023 memo states that a CKPC railyard is critical to freight rail operations on the south shore Burrard Inlet, including the Centerm container-handling facility. The railyard also poses a major constraint on development “for the foreseeable future.”
Larry Beasley, Vancouver’s former chief planner who previously worked with Kerfoot to advance the waterfront’s development, told Postmedia that the MOU is “a profound breakthrough.”
“The big story here … is that these governments are talking,” Beasley, now a private consultant, added in the interview with Postmeda. “They have never been able to talk together, they have never been willing to, they’ve never been motivated to.”
While redevelopment remains years away, the waterfront’s potential has already inspired conceptual designs from architecture firms envisioning housing, transportation hubs, and public spaces, Postmedia reporte.
However, Christina DeMarco, a former Metro Vancouver planner, urged caution, according to Postmedia. She warned that any housing development would need to account for a lack of schools, childcare, and community infrastructure in the area. (Metro Vancouver is an umbrella organization for the region’s local governments.)
The alliance’s formation follows Kerfoot’s efforts more than a decade ago to develop a new stadium for the Whitecaps as part of a mixed-use project. However, that plan was informally abandoned after it faced opposition from the commercial real estate sector and other groups. The Whitecaps ultimately committed to a long-term lease at B.C. Place Stadium.
On Friday, Kerfoot and the other Whitecaps owners announced plans to sell the team. The ownership group has hired New York-base Goldman Sachs to facilitate the process.
Theoretically, the planned sale could provide Kerfoot with hundreds of millions of dollars to help finance a waterfront development. San Diego FC, the newest Major League Soccer team, paid a $500-million expansion fee that, arguably, sets a minimum pricing benchmark for the circuit’s franchises.
But the deep-pocketed Kerfoot can likely finance any project with his existing financial resources. The reclusive entrepreneur made his fortune in the tech sector and remains active in it, serving as the CEO of Thrive Health.
Photo: Koshiro K / Shutterstock.com
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