When pre-sales began in late 2009 for M1, the first tower in Cressey Development Group’s four-tower Metropolitan project adjacent to Lincoln station in Coquitlam, a new rapid transit line was among the amenities tipped as making the location – in the words of the marketing copywriter – “ideal for professionals, couples and families.”
The fourth tower would have 65,000 square feet of office space, anchoring the commercial heart of the Tri-Cities.
“If it wasn’t for the Evergreen line we would not be building the office tower,” Hani Lammam, Cressey’s vice-president of development and acquisition, said in 2013. “Transit is crucial.”
But five years later, the tower has yet to appear.
“It’s still a fairly difficult go as far as office,” said Jason Turcotte, vice-president of development with Cressey. “The lease rates haven’t quite got there yet, so we’re not quite ready to put a shovel in the ground on that one.”
While the Evergreen Extension of the Millennium Line, opened in December 2016, has attracted the residents required for other forms of urban development, it hasn’t triggered the scale of development taking place at Expo Line stations or elsewhere on the Millennium Line.
“It’s what allows the high density to happen. You can’t plan a high-density community around an area that doesn’t have rapid transit,” Turcotte explained. “But it’s not quite there yet to really see any substantial commercial development happen. You need more people.”
Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce CEO Mike Hind said Coquitlam Centre, just south of Cressey’s site, is the commercial space that’s benefited most from the Evergreen line.
Port Moody’s bustling microbreweries have also come within the ambit of aficionados thanks to the line, but the major changes are yet to come.
Ken Moffat, vice-president of asset management with Morguard Investments Ltd., oversees Coquitlam Centre from his office in Mississauga. While the Evergreen line is an exciting development, Morguard says it’s too early to identify any boost to foot traffic or sales at the mall. It continues to study redevelopment options for the 57-acre site. A makeover akin to what Shape Properties Corp. is undertaking at Brentwood and Lougheed town centres remains distant.
“The expansion of the Evergreen line has definitely been a catalyst in reshaping the future of Coquitlam Centre as a great place to live, work and play,” Moffat said in a statement. “With transit at our doorstep, we envision the mall as the new centre of Coquitlam, with increased retail opportunities, new commercial opportunities and a significant new residential component.”
The centre of Coquitlam is in many ways like downtown Surrey was in 2006, when it was still known as Whalley and development had yet to materialize along “Innovation Boulevard.”
Canadian Geographic writer Charles Montgomery toured the City Centre neighbourhood with local councillor Bob Bose and observed, “No centre anywhere.”
Presentations by David Munro, economic development manager for Coquitlam, acknowledge that the Evergreen line’s impacts will play out over the next 50 years.
“City Centre is developing now as a regional service centre for north of the Fraser River,” he said, noting the presence of Service Canada as well as the recent arrival of RBC Wealth Management. The tag line for current business attraction efforts is “Be Strategic: Locate Your Office on the Evergreen SkyTrain Extension.”
Such development will be a regional take on what Bosa Properties Inc. built adjacent to Burquitlam station. There, a new Safeway serves a growing local population while other offices in the complex provide professional services.
“Burquitlam area is going to be more local, professional services,” Munro said. “There might be a residential tower with a restaurant and maybe a floor or two of offices with accountants that do the taxes for local residents, whereas in City Centre you’ll have the same thing but with a regional flair.”
A similar phenomenon is playing out in Port Moody.
Newport Village and Suter Brook took shape 20 years ago when RTP 2000 Ltd. prepared for a transit line expansion that only materialized with the Evergreen project.
“We built up a lot around a line that never got built, so we had a sour taste in our mouth,” Port Moody Mayor Mike Clay said. “Until we saw some tunnel-boring machines, we didn’t believe it.”
Today, the city’s single biggest commercial development is a nine-storey tower with 165,000 square feet at Suter Brook that opened in May 2016. It’s home to 450 jobs. A key tenant is shared-space provider Regus.
“A lot of the businesses out here are one or two or maybe three people,” Clay said, “so that’s the sort of space they’ve been looking for. It got gobbled up almost immediately.”
The next big push will be tech-oriented space at Moody Centre, an echo of hopes 18 years ago when an influx of highly paid tech workers was seen as salvation for Newport Village.
Nevertheless, patience remains vital.
“There’s a lot of development and potential development still to come along the Evergreen line,” Hind said. “The tale has yet to be told in the next 10 years.”
