Now that it’s spring, flowers are starting to pop out of the ground — and new apartments are also sprouting in downtown Vancouver.
With all of the buildings proposed or under construction, it can be difficult to keep track of just how many housing units may be added to the downtown and uptown areas.
Teresa Brum, the city’s economic development division manager, said earlier this month that the city has more than 600 residential units in the pipeline for downtown.
Some projects have been completed in the last few months. There was an open house at Midtown, a 48-unit apartment complex at 513 E. 16th St., Saturday. The building by Portland-based ekoLiving has been open since January but isn’t fully leased. Monthly rent for a one-bedroom, 432-square-foot apartment is $1,150. The 18-unit Herby complex at 1510 C St. was also developed by ekoLiving.
“A community defining project” reads one of the signs in front of the The Uptown Apartments, the largest project under construction. It’s starting to take shape after months of below-ground work. The end result will be a six-story, mixed-use building with 8,000 square feet of retail space, underground parking and 167 apartment units. The project takes up an entire city block along Main Street between McLoughlin Boulevard and 17th Street. Cascadia Development Partners said the project will cost $42 million and units will be available in the fall.
Our Heroes Place, a 49-unit complex at 409 E. Mill Plain Blvd., is also under construction. The $11.5 million complex being built by Prestige Development is named after the late philanthropists Ed and Dollie Lynch. This project, which is headed by Wilson Architects, will have 3,500 of commercial retail space including a drive-thru window. Wilson Architects also submitted plans for a mixed-used building that includes 116 apartments, commercial space and parking on a block bordered by West 15th, 16th, Main and Washington streets. That project is on hold, however.
A 36-unit complex at 19th and Broadway Streets is also under construction. The city is reviewing a 30-unit project that would be one block away at 20th Street and Broadway.
One of the most recently proposed project is a mixed-use development that includes 30 apartment units at 701 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Filings show the property was sold Sept. 21 to Madden Lovejoy LLC of Portland for $255,000.
Still under review are the 89-unit Jefferson Street Apartments at Jefferson Street and Evergreen Boulevard, and a six-story, 144-unit project called The Esther next to Esther Short Park.
Earlier this month, officials announced that a vacant lot, known locally as Block 10, could be turned into a 250-unit apartment building with a grocery store.
It’s unclear how many housing units will be constructed as part of the waterfront redevelopment. Counting apartments and condominiums together, Barry Cain estimated the waterfront would boast 2,500 residential units when it’s all said and done. Cain’s company, Gramor Development, is leading the project. He said last month that he’d received over 900 inquiries about upcoming condos.
Including Cain’s estimate, there will potentially be a few thousand new apartments dotting downtown Vancouver over the next few years.
