Redevelopment of Former MEC Store on West Broadway into Rental Towers to Move Forward

As part of the Broadway Plan planning process, Reliance Properties has held back its formal pitch to redevelop the former Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) store on West Broadway for more than four years.

Now that the Broadway Plan is approved and in effect, it is time to consider rezoning and increasing density throughout the area.

The Reliance Properties company confirmed in its pre-application consultation this week that it intends to submit a formal rezoning application to redevelop the former MEC at 130 West Broadway by the end of 2022 — about a five-minute walk from Broadway City-Hall Station on the SkyTrain, which will become a major regional interchange when the Millennium Line extension is completed to meet the Canada Line in 2025.

In accordance with the Broadway Plan, the former MEC site may be redeveloped with a maximum height of 30 storeys for mixed-use developments, as long as 100% of the residential component is dedicated for rental use. Similarly, the maximum floor area ratio (FAR) density is 8.5 FAR based on the lot size.

Site of the former MEC store at 130 West Broadway, Vancouver. (Reliance Properties/QuadReal Property Group)

Site of the former MEC store at 130 West Broadway, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

The project details are aligned with the Broadway Plan, involving two towers of up to 28 or 29 storeys on top of a one-storey podium for commercial use. 8.46 FAR is the proposed density.
An estimated 524 units will be available for rent, including 33 studios, 287 one-bedrooms, 150 two-bedrooms, and 54 three-bedrooms.

On the one-storey podium, 43,500 square feet of commercial space will be devoted to grocery stores, restaurants, cafes, and a non-market childcare center for 37 children.
In between the two towers, a large outdoor public space will be located on the rooftop of the base podium. West Broadway and the laneway will provide access to this 29,000 sq ft public space.

There will be 397 parking stalls for vehicles and 1,049 bike parking spaces on the underground levels.
In 2018, Reliance Properties released highly conceptual architectural renderings of the project, which showed a sleek and contemporary design.

Almost four years later, Neil M. Denari Architects continues to lead the project design effort, with IBI Group serving as the local architect. For this project, QuadReal Property Group has also partnered with Reliance Properties.

According to an updated artistic rendering released this week for the pre-consultation phase — showing the commercial base podium and rooftop public space — very significant changes to the design are not expected. During the rezoning application process, more details will be provided on the project and design.

In early 2020, MEC relocated to a new purpose-built store building near the Olympic Village. Since then, the former MEC store has not seen a long-term tenant, but it has served as a Spirit Halloween costume and prop store for consecutive Halloween seasons.

Additionally, Reliance Properties unveiled plans for a 20-storey rental housing tower near SkyTrain’s future South Granville station on the site of a surface parking lot.

This project is also part of the Broadway Plan.

Outdated 2018 artistic renderings of the former MEC store redevelopment at 130 West Broadway:

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