For more than a decade, Vancouver has been working to remake the industrial area into a new urban centre
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From his patio, Donald Scott has watched a corner of South Vancouver turn into a forest of towers.
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He lives across the street from the Marine Drive SkyTrain hub. When the station opened in 2009, Marpole’s Marine Landing neighbourhood was mostly industrial, with small shops, automotive warehouses and sprawling parking lots.
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“At least three towers surround us now,” Scott told Postmedia. “We walk out the front door, and there’s one. We walk out the back door, there’s another.”
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On a recent weekday morning, Scott made the short walk from his home to the nearby Winners store to pick up bedding. The outlet is part of Marine Gateway, the first major development to reshape the neighbourhood. Completed in 2015 by PCI Developments, the $372 million complex consists of two residential towers, offices, stores, restaurants and entertainment venues.
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Sunrise
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By the afternoon, close to a dozen people sat across the complex’s public benches, some eating lunch, others taking a break. More people arrived on foot and went from businesses including a Cineplex, the Dublin Crossing Irish Pub, and the Marine Gateway Liquor Store, with the SkyTrain station just steps away.
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For more than a decade, Vancouver has been working to remake this industrial area into a new urban centre — with homes, jobs, shops and entertainment clustered around rapid transit and a gateway into the city from Vancouver International Airport. That vision dates back to the city’s 2011 Cambie Corridor Plan, and was expanded in 2021 with policies allowing taller, denser development for affordable housing and dedicated employment.
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But the transformation is far from over.
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PCI Developments’ next project could expand Marine Gateway with two more 43-storey towers and two mid-rise buildings, adding about 1,000 rental homes, a child-care facility, a seniors centre, and a privately owned public park accessible by a pedestrian overpass.
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Nearby, a proposed 30-storey hotel at 8555 Cambie St. is seeking rezoning approval for another major development in Marine Landing. The site is currently home to an auto dealership.
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Project developer Daisen Gee-Wing, working with the owners of the popular Breka Bakery And Cafe chain, said the $40 million hotel would add to the industrial area’s evolution into an urban hub while adding hundreds of jobs.
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“We have really been looking at what could go there to complement the area,” he told Postmedia.
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The project would include 324 hotel rooms, an industrial Breka bakery, as well as restaurant, fitness, meeting and conference spaces.
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“We’re looking at the first major stop from the airport into Vancouver,” he said. “A lot of the people who have layovers and whatnot want to stay close by.”
