Tall & Urban News

The plan to provide Coquitlam with its own waterfront community has gained new momentum, with the developer providing the municipal government with an update that outlines major revisions that add more housing and community amenities.

The redevelopment of the old Fraser Mills site was previously green-lit in 2008 under the city’s Waterfront Village Centre Neighbourhood Plan, but since the initial approval, the project has evolved and grown in size.

Based on the newly submitted application by Beedie, the development site, largely previously a sawmill, has grown from 89 acres to 91.5 acres (36 to 37 hectares) with the acquisition of the former ICBC Air Care site. Fraser Mills will be a pocket of mixed-use area on the Fraser River’s industrial waterfront—at the southern foot of King Edward Street, and just south of Highway 1 and Coquitlam’s IKEA and Cineplex.

While the redevelopment will offer some new industrial uses, the mixed-use development comes at a time when there is a growing regional consensus to protect existing industrial lands, and prevent further attrition into non-traditional industrial uses, given the extreme shortage and high demand for industrial spaces. Three new industrial buildings have been built next to the site since the original 2008 approval, including the AG Hair building.

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