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First Nations are now elite Vancouver developers
Another major development project is the Heather Lands, a 21-acre site at 33rd and Cambie that was a former RCMP headquarters. That project could see up to 2,300 new homes built.
“A singular nation couldn’t do it because it’s so big,” Dennis Thomas, band councillor for the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, told BIV News. “So we joined forces. You can have 33 per cent of something, or 100 per cent of nothing.”
Unlike the Squamish Nation’s Senakw project, the lands owned by MST Development are fee-simple land and subject to municipal zoning and official community plans. Earlier this week, the City of Vancouver approved a rezoning for the Heather Lands project.
Negrin said the residential development projects will help address Vancouver’s housing availability and affordability challenges.
“A large portion of our development will be affordable, attainable and workforce housing,” Negrin said.
“We’re in negotiations with the province of British Columbia, the feds and the City of Vancouver to provide workforce housing units for all our children and for people that can’t afford housing in Vancouver. That will be at a 20 to 25 per cent discount of where we are in the market today.”
The WST projects are being developed in partnership with major developers. Negrin said it is important for First Nations that they remain the owners of the land, so deals struck with developers are on a long-term lease basis.