PoCo Place project hits pause

The biggest and most complex project ever proposed in Port Coquitlam won’t be arriving any time soon.

Earmarked for 2775 Lougheed Highway at Westwood Street, the six-tower development was touted as a way to revitalize the PoCo Place strip mall, with construction beginning as early as 2027. However, developer Wesbild recently opted to postpone the project, confirmed Port Coquitlam director of planning Bruce Irvine.

“They have paused,” Irvine said. “At this time the market just doesn’t support that in their opinion.”

Besides 80,000 square feet of retail space, and a childcare facility, the project was set to include about 2,000 units.

“It represented about twice our average annual growth rate,” Irvine said.

Irvine explained that he couldn’t divulge information about other projects in the city.

While there’s still demand townhouses and duplexes, Irvine said this is the most dramatic shift in B.C.’s housing market in more than 20 years.

“We have seen a tremendous slowdown in new applications, especially multi-family applications,” he said. “Where the market has completely collapsed, is the pre-sold, pre-purchased, investor, multi-family tower.”

With the city’s population projected to reach 72,000 by 2031, Port Coquitlam should add about 550 new dwelling units each year, according to a 2022 housing needs report. The city is also subject to provincial housing targets, which put an emphasis on studios and one-bedroom units, Irvine added.

“We don’t subscribe to that,” he said. “Our focus has always been: how do we build the right kind of community for our citizens?”

As cities across Canada grapple with the shifting housing market, Irvine said co-operation between governments and developers is crucial.

“If we can’t figure out the cost of labour, the cost of materials, the cost of infrastructure, and figure out better ways to build, it’s going to be really hard for us to just out-wait this problem,” he said.