Developer proposes major rental community for Burnaby

The development arm of a large, Toronto-based real-estate investment fund that has been expanding its B.C. holdings is proposing to build one of the largest rental housing communities in Metro Vancouver near Lougheed Mall in Burnaby.

Starlight Developments is asking to add 1,200 new rental homes to a 7.4-acre site where it has been renovating 528 existing, older ones.

“When I look at Burnaby, I don't see anything of this size,” for purpose-built rentals, said Josh Kaufman, head of development and construction at Starlight.

Starlight bought the Lougheed Village site in 2015 for a reported $160 million in one of the largest deals of that year. It was an amount based on the potential to add more to the site, which had four 1970s-era rental apartment buildings and a retail complex.

Two years ago, Starlight submitted a rezoning application to add 1,000 new rental units and two new towers.

Now, Starlight is proposing to up that by adding three new rental towers of 48, 39 and 36 storeys in a fresh application that has been going through Burnaby's rezoning process and will go to public hearing next year.

The request for increased density comes as demand for dedicated rental units rises and developers attempt to glean additional value from land bought in the last few boom years.

A draft of Burnaby's Housing Needs Report estimates a need, over the next 10 years, for 5,690 new rental units to meet the growth in number of renters at various levels of affordability, including an increased demand by households with incomes of less than $35,000 and between $35,000 and $60,000.

It's too early to know what the mix of rent ranges will be at Lougheed Village, said Kaufman, but “our attitude is to create a complete community. It's can't be just for one demographic or one income stream. ... We are adjusting the size of the units and making some more affordable than others.”

Starlight is relatively new to developing property in B.C. with most of its completed projects in Ontario.

Lougheed Village is among a number of their projects being proposed in B.C., including a small one in North Vancouver, and Harris Green Village in Victoria, the vision for which is 1,500 purpose-built rental units.

Starlight's investment company is the largest owner-operator of purpose-built rental housing in Canada with more than $16 billion in assets under management, 600 properties and 60,000 units in this category.

This includes more than 4,800 rental units in B.C., including Metro Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. It has been expanding as other REITs also eye B.C. just as mom-and-pop and family company landlords are being tested by the strains of owning and maintaining rental units.

In early November, Starlight and King Sett Capital bought the Northview Apartment REIT for almost $5 billion, giving them 11,000 apartment units across Canada, including some in northern B.C. The deal was described as the largest acquisition ever in the Canadian multi-family residential sector.

In mid-November, Starlight completed a deal to buy Aqua at Plaza 88, a highrise in New Westminster, with almost 400 rental units and ground-floor retail space, for an undisclosed amount.