An ambitious plan for Lougheed Town Centre’s core area is moving ahead, with the draft concept plan going to a second open house.
The plan includes seven “character precincts” and five large public spaces, according to a staff report that was presented to Burnaby council at Monday night’s meeting.
Austin Road would become a vibrant, pedestrian high street, according to the report, and North Road would be a landscaped retail street. Cameron Street would be a mixed-use area with retail shops and townhouses.
Other plans include a grand promenade connecting Cameron Street to a transit plaza. The promenade would be the main outdoor shopping destination.
A new area, Cross Creek, would be an east-west connector and a pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare, the report stated.
A pedestrian spine would be a weather-protected shopping area, while Bartlett Court on the western side of the property would primarily be a residential street.
A large park and urban plaza space would be at the heart of the Lougheed site, the report stated.
Other public spaces include the transit plaza; Creekside, which pays homage to Lost Creek; pocket parks along North Road; the Cochrane Steps from North Road to the grand promenade; and Lougheed Highway.
The plan includes 12.2 million square feet of residential floor space and 14.9 million square feet of retail, commercial, office and entertainment space, according to the report.
City staff are planning the second open house now that the more detailed draft concept plan is being put forward. Burnaby council endorsed the plan and authorized the open house, which will be held in the Lougheed area some time in mid-June.
The majority property owner for the area is Shape Properties, which owns Lougheed mall.
The mall was built in 1968, expanded in 1986 and renovated in the early 2000s. In 2010, Shape Properties purchased Lougheed Town Centre, as well as the Sears outlet site across the street and a few other surrounding properties.
“Lougheed is very exciting, I think, for a number of reasons,” Darren Kwiatkowski, Shape’s executive vice-president of acquisitions and development, told the NOW last April. “One is we purchased a property which had been allowed to decline. It occupies a fantastic location as far as greater Vancouver and the various town centres that are identified in the Metro Vancouver core strategy.”
Kwiatkowski said traditional shopping centres were built on large sites, surrounded by “acres and acres” of parking.
“So, the opportunity is that at Lougheed, it’s 40 acres, and you can master plan a whole community and you can execute a vision,” he said.
He said the mall is expected to evolve over 25 years, over several phases.
