Metrotown to come down… within 40 years: councillor

By

BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – More than 450 tenants currently renting space at Burnaby’s Metrotown shopping mall aren’t facing eviction –just yet.

It could take several years, but the Lower Mainland’s largest shopping mecca is coming down.

Re-development plans for the Metropolis mall have been mapped out over the next 40 years, according to Burnaby City Councillor Colleen Jordan.

She says the death of that shopping centre as we know it is all part of a long-term vision, to make Metrotown Burnaby’s new downtown.

The Metrotown Downtown Plan (Courtesy City of Burnaby)

The Metrotown Downtown Plan

Plans unanimously approved by city council last month include tearing down the existing infrastructure and replacing it with more mixed use developments.

“The highest density would be in the town centres, close to transit,” explains Jordan. “The plan that we originally had for Metrotown was developed in 1977 –40 years ago, pre SkyTrain, pre-Metrotown mall. The only retail building that was there at that time was the Sears building, right?”

Jordan says few complaints have been registered about the plan so far, and the first piece to come down will be the section bought by Concord Pacific in 2013, which is currently home to Sears.

“Northeast corner –that one definitely is already under plans for re-development. Then, the rest of the property would be over time and over perhaps 40 years. Who knows? Perhaps sooner, perhaps longer.”

The plan is similar to the re-design of the Brentwood Mall demolition which is already underway and there are also plans to do the same thing in the area currently home to Lougheed Mall.

The property near Kingsway and Willingdon will eventually be home to more high-rises.

 

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today