Two enormous, cloud-scraping highrise towers have been approved in Burnaby right next to Lougheed Town Centre SkyTrain station.
One of them is slated to become the tallest building west of Ontario at 259 metres tall – 80 storeys in the air.
Council approved the development Sept. 23, including the 80-storey tower and a 72-storey tower with a total of 1,466 market condos.
Both buildings, developed by Pinnacle International at 9850 Austin Rd. and 9858-9898 Gatineau Pl., will have commercial podiums at the ground level with 13,304 sq. ft. of retail space and 515,097 sq. ft. of office space.
Currently on the site are surface parking lots and a residential sales centre.
While Burnaby policy requires developers to build 20 per cent of a project as on-site below-market rental homes, Pinnacle received an exception to build the required number of rental units (a total of 546 units) at 3846 Carrigan Court, a 10-minute walk away across the Lougheed Highway.
The Carrigan development, which was also approved Monday, will see the demolition of 141 rental units on the site to make way for a 354-unit, 33-storey highrise condo tower and two highrise rental towers at 23 and 25 storeys.
Tenants who are eligible for Burnaby’s tenant assistance policy will be able to move into replacement rental units built on the Carrigan site at their old rents plus allowed increases.
The Pinnacle development drew concerns last year for its proposed 14 floors of underground parking, but staff said the number of parking spots has since been significantly reduced.
The developer has plans for a second and third phase of the Pinnacle development across the street from the just-approved two towers, with each phase each including a highrise tower and podium.
