Douglas Todd: The plans are starkly different for three expansive Safeway sites, whose fates depend on location, and ambitions of owners and city council.
The first Safeways in Metro Vancouver took root in the 1950s.
The one-storey supermarkets typically arose on main streets and spread over almost an entire block, with ample ground-level parking spots.
Much like old gas station sites and White Spot restaurants, which also come with abundant pavement, the Safeway locations have since become enticing draws for property developers.
While many Safeway supermarkets in Metro Vancouver have been shut down or redeveloped, three sites in the city of Vancouver are now targeted for rental apartments.
But the ultimate fate of these expansive and expensive properties is dependent on their locations, the ambitions of their ever-changing owners and Vancouver city council.
Residents have a range of reactions to the startlingly different apartment proposals for the three Safeway sites, which separate developers have put before council. The disparities in height, density and green space are tremendous.
One former Safeway site, with building demolished, is in the affluent neighbourhood of West Point Grey, near the gates of UBC.
A second site, with an operating Safeway, is among the low-rise apartments of Kitsilano, not far from the beach.
A third Safeway site, where a supermarket remains open, is on roaring east Broadway, next to the Commercial Street SkyTrain station. It’s the site where the most massive development is proposed.
“The concern I have, however, is there seems to be a growing sentiment in the city that as long you’re building rental housing, you can build as much as you want,” said Geller. “And the overall quality of the design is less important than it was just a few years ago.”
The former Safeway site in Point Grey Village has been empty for six years.
It currently features a makeshift dog park and wooden containers for would-be gardeners. The property was assessed at $96 million in 2024, and the city of Vancouver, citing “privacy” concerns, will not divulge how much the owners save in property taxes by offering residents such recreational amenities.
Like the other two Safeway locations being developed in Vancouver, the Point Grey property is no longer owned by Safeway Canada. It sold scores of its properties in 2013 to Sobeys, a division of the Empire Company. And now the West 10th location is owned by BGO, of Miami.
“It’s very, very large, rather bulky and missing what one might call a village character,” said Geller of the proposed development.
A citizens group called Friends of Point Grey Village, which has helped mobilize hundreds of residents to share their concerns with city council, is not happy with the plans thrust upon them by BGO.
The developer’s proposal, which will soon likely go to a public hearing, is for 571 units of rental housing, with 20 per cent of the units subsidized. Along with a new grocery store, it will include six-storey frontages, plus towers of 19 and 21 storeys.
“That means more customers for our village shops,” acknowledged Jean Baird, chair of Friends of Point Grey Village.
“But we will not get any community facilities, such as a child-care centre,” she said, or a public plaza. The front sidewalks will be narrow, the streetscape bland, she said, and there will be no mix of housing, such as co-ops.
In their disappointment, members of Friends of Point Grey Village are a bit envious of what’s proposed for the Safeway property at 2315 West 4th Ave.
Last year the Kitsilano site was bought for about $90 million by PCI Investments and Low Tide Properties, the latter of which is co-owned by Lululemon founder Chip Wilson, who lives in a seaside Kitsilano mansion.
Unlike the West 10th proposal and the soaring development on East Broadway, Point Grey residents believe Kitsilano is getting a more community-oriented project: 385 rental units in three medium-rise buildings of nine storeys, six storeys and, along Fourth, five storeys. Safeway will continue operating there after construction.
DeMarco said the Kitsilano proposal is superior because it doesn’t include big towers, has “more interesting architecture,“ a ground-level courtyard, shows “respect” for the scale of Fourth Avenue’s low-rise shopping district and features an “animated street frontage” with small shops.
While both Safeway site projects are rental developments on land with similar zoning, DeMarco said the city is allowing the Point Grey developers to go much higher than in Kitsilano in exchange for 20 per cent of the units being “below-market” rentals.
Apartments created under the city’s moderate-income pilot program, as a rule of thumb, go for almost one-fifth less than average prices to tenants who qualify.
Since rental units, especially some that are of slightly lower cost, are considered a benefit to the community, DeMarco said the city is also waiving about $17 million in potential development cost levy charges for the Point Grey site, which the city normally uses to fund infrastructure like parks and child-care facilities.
The concerns residents have about the Point Grey and Kitsilano Safeway sites are many. But they’re moderate compared to the anger east Vancouver citizens feel about the mammoth project slated for the Safeway location near the Broadway and Commercial SkyTrain station.
We’ll learn more about that conflict in the next column.