Richmond’s new developer-funded rapid transit station is expected be operational soon. What happened to the ones planned for Vancouver?
When the Canada Line started running in 2009, the new rapid transit line had 16 stations in operation and plans for three future stations, two in Vancouver and one in Richmond.
Fifteen years later, that Richmond station is expected to be operational very soon, but progress on the two Vancouver stations appears to be stalled indefinitely.
Richmond’s soon-to-be-complete Capstan Station is between the existing Bridgeport and Aberdeen stations. It is notable for how it was paid for, with about half the cost covered by developers building in the area.
The construction of the Capstan station cost around $62 million, TransLink said, with $30 million covered by the transit authority and $32.2 million raised by the City of Richmond from developers with projects in the Capstan Village area. The primary developers involved in funding it were Concord Pacific, Polygon, Pinnacle International, and Yuanheng Holdings.
“The Capstan Station project represents a unique funding partnership, the first of its kind at TransLink, through which the city collected funds from developers in the area in exchange for density bonuses to help raise the necessary money for the project,” a TransLink spokesperson said in an email. “This was an innovative approach to building projects and delivering improved customer service, while lessening the burden on taxpayers.”
Concord Pacific CEO Terry Hui said that while sometimes neighbourhoods are resistant to new residents moving in, he hopes Richmond residents will be able to appreciate the tangible benefits of the new development around Capstan. In addition to contributing to the transit station’s construction, Concord’s development in the Capstan area — which includes more than 1,600 homes — will also deliver public art, parks and a cultural centre.
“I don’t want to take any credit for it, I’m just facilitating. It’s our customers who pay for it, and it’s a whole range of community infrastructure,” Hui said.
Hui said the City of Richmond deserves credit for its “leadership bringing all the parties together” to get the station built.
Years ago, the City of Vancouver was in talks with developers planning major projects in the densifying area around 57th Avenue and Cambie about how to fund a future Canada Line station there. But that station appears unlikely to become a reality any time soon, if ever.
Business cases have not been completed for future Vancouver stations, a TransLink spokesperson said. But even without knowing the precise costs, it’s expected that they would be significantly more expensive than Capstan station because new Vancouver stations would need to be built underground instead of aboveground like Capstan, and because construction costs have soared since the Richmond project began.
When a past Vancouver council approved Onni’s rezoning application for the major Pearson Dogwood development in 2017, the developer committed to paying a “potential 57th Avenue Canada Line station contribution.”
This $20 million contribution from Onni was “to be allocated towards the construction of a future station at 57th Avenue and Cambie Street.” The agreement also said if the station is not “attainable in the long-term future,” the money would be reallocated to other amenity needs in the area.
Duncan Wlodarczak, Onni’s chief of staff, said this week that the company did pay that $20 million to the city, but he understands there is no current plan for a 57th Avenue station.
“From an Onni perspective, I think a station would certainly add value to the quality of life in the neighbourhood,” Wlodarczak said, adding that other developers in the area would probably agree.
Onni is going ahead regardless with its Pearson Dogwood development, which is already served fairly well by transit, Wlodarczak said.
Affleck’s motion was not approved by council.
Affleck said he never got the clarity he sought about what happened with the 57th Avenue station and funds raised for it, but he thinks it’s unlikely to ever be built.
The city said this week it will continue to preserve the space to accommodate a possible 57th Avenue station in the future, “if TransLink includes it in a future plan.”
In the meantime, the $20 million contribution from Onni will be “reserved for a future station,” the city said, or reallocated to other uses if a station is not delivered. But, the city’s statement said, TransLink has no plans to build stations at either 57th or 33rd Avenue.