Not your typical Vancouver rental: This West End rebuild puts seniors first

An aging 1940s condo in Vancouver’s West End has finally received approval to be replaced by a new rental building, but it’s not like any development we’ve seen in recent years.

Vancouver-based real estate company PC Urban plans to transform the old condo with a brand new 20-storey rental building aimed at addressing a part of Vancouver’s housing crisis. The project will dedicate 20 per cent of the new homes as below-market rental units, and among those, 30 per cent will be heavily discounted for the West End’s senior population.

How it started

In 2022, PC Urban reached out to the West End community to learn what kind of development the residents wanted. During this period, the team engaged with around 50 different associations, including the West End Seniors’ Network (WESN)—a registered charity dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for seniors in the neighbourhood.

WESN currently hosts events and runs food security kitchens for seniors, but the charity’s growing size has made space a challenge. Alongside WESN, PC Urban also consulted the Seniors Society of British Columbia, an organization that connects low-income seniors with affordable housing opportunities. These discussions inspired PC Urban to reimagine the old 1150 Barclay condo as a modern building tailored to address these needs.

“That led to the next step where we really took the focus of ‘Let’s make this a senior-focused building,’” says Steve Forrest, the Chief Operating Officer of PC Urban. “Because seniors are typically underrepresented in many communities.”

The property

To meet these goals, the 1150 Barclay project will feature 152 new units upgraded to current fire and seismic standards and equipped with essential features such as elevators and cooling. Of the 152 units, 95 will be one-bedroom and studio homes—recognizing that most seniors live alone—while the remaining 57 will be two- and three-bedroom units designed for families. Twenty per cent of the studio and one-bedroom homes will be offered at below-market rates, ranging from $892 to $1,426 and $1,038 to $1,661 respectively.

The building will also include a 1,550-square-foot community room with a full commercial kitchen. This space will be provided rent-free to WESN to help support its food security programs. In addition, PC Urban will donate $175,000 to the organization, enough to fund approximately 15,000 meals for seniors in the neighbourhood. 

Other amenities will include a dedicated scooter room, bike parking and a community garden to encourage seniors to pursue new hobbies and engage with one another. The building is also located two blocks away from Barclay Manor and Gordon House—two big community centers that facilitate a large number of senior activities.

However, the biggest challenge for PC Urban now is completing the 1150 Barclay project as quickly as possible. Forrest hopes that the project will be completed by 2029, but notes that the city’s slow review and approval process remains a concern.

“The current West End Plan was drafted in 2014 and little change has occurred in area ‘A’ of the plan since,” Forrest says. “We can’t wait another two or three years for the plan to be reviewed, then another two years for approvals and three years of construction. We need to build it now.”