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Cottonwood tower now includes below-market units

By Jeremy Shepherd

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March 5, 2024

photo Google Maps, July 2023

Nearly four years after it was approved, Coquitlam council unanimously supported a revised deal that will put nine below-market rentals on Cottonwood Avenue.

The rents on below-market units tend to be at least 20 percent less than market rents.

Located at 520 Cottonwood by Whiting Way, the 29-storey tower is set to include 251 units over a five-storey podium.

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Due to uncertainty about finding an agency to operate below-market rentals, the original arrangement with the city “specified non-market units,” according to a city staff report.

The developer, Ledingham McAllister, has since made a deal for B.C. Housing to operate the nine below-market units. That change required the previous agreement with Coquitlam to be rescinded and revised.

Coquitlam unanimously approved the revised deal without discussion on Monday.

The building is also set to include 176 condos and 66 market rentals.

The 75 rental units must remain rental for the life of the building. Short-term rentals are also prohibited.

image supplied

Author

Jeremy Shepherd

A chiropractor and a folk singer, after having one great kid, decided to push their luck and have one more, a boy they named Jeremy Shepherd.

Shepherd grew up around Blue Mountain Park in Coquitlam, following a basketball around and trying his best to get to the NBA (it didn’t work out, at least not yet).

With no career plans after graduating Porter Elementary school, Jeremy Shepherd pursued higher education at Como Lake Middle School and eventually, Centennial High School.

Approximately 1,000 movies and several beers later in life, Shepherd made a change.

Having done nothing worth writing, he decided to see if he could write something worth reading.

Since graduating journalism school at Langara College, Shepherd has been a reporter, editor and, reluctantly, a content provider for community newspapers around Metro Vancouver for more than 10 years.

He worked with dogged reporters, eloquently indignant curmudgeons and creative photographers, all of whom shared a little of what they knew.

Now, as he goes about the business of raising two fascinating humans alongside a wonderful partner, Shepherd is delighted to report news and tell stories in the Tri-Cities.

He runs, reads, and is intrigued by art, science, smart cities and new ideas. He is pleased to meet you.