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'Landmark' 59-storey highrise with hotel proposed next to Burnaby's Crystal Mall

Metrotown could be home to a new highrise tower.
kingswayburnabydevelopmentpropsed
The corner of Kingsway and Willingdon has a proposal for a 59-storey highrise tower with a hotel.

Developers are now proposing a 59-storey highrise, including condos, rentals, retail and a hotel, right next to Burnaby’s Crystal Mall in Metrotown.

Keltic Canada Development applied to council to rezone a property at 4444 and 4488 Kingsway, where there is currently an Esso gas station, a parking lot and a Bosa showroom.

It comes months after a multimillion-dollar land deal late last year in which Keltic Canada bought the site from Bosa Properties for more than $100 million.

Keltic’s letter of intent proposes the development will include:

  • Market condos
  • Rentals
  • Short-term strata hotel/hospitality
  • Office
  • Retail

“The building is conceptualized as a landmark destination multi-purpose building that will be a nexus of living and working, complimented by public and private amenities,” wrote Keltic’s senior development manager Ryan Sekhon in the letter.

Sekhon said the development will provide “new affordable rental housing where there is currently only a gas station” and development cost charges (levied by the city to pay for sewers, water mains and roads) “valued at approximately $4 million.”

Keltic’s plan for 59 storeys is is smaller than Bosa’s earlier intention to build two mixed-use highrises on a lowrise commercial podium, with one of the towers in the 70-storey range.

Keltic will work with American architect Gensler for the design, and Vancouver-based CDA Architects as the architects of record.

Gensler has also designed the nearby under-construction 39-storey Central Park House at 5977 Wilson Ave. and is known for designing one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, Shanghai Tower.

Designs and concepts for the Kingsway building will come “in the near future,” according to Sekhon’s letter.

- with files from Frank O’Brien, Western Investor