Terra Special Projects and Odd Fellows Low Rental Housing Society signed a development agreement for the re-development of the Society’s site, replacing the building on the site that had reached the end of its usable life and was in severe need of upgrade.
Working with a private developer partner (Hungerford), “The Link”, a new 116,000 square foot, 6-storey building was constructed on the property. The ground floor on Kingsway features retail space and the rest of the building has a residential split between the Odd Fellows units and rental housing units owned by the developer. Each section of the building has been registered at Land Titles in separate air space parcels.
Terra assisted Odd Fellows to leverage its real estate asset enabling the Society to replace its aging seniors’ housing facility at no cost, providing new, updated, modern affordable homes for its residents. The new building has 44 units – 9 one bedroom and 35 bachelor suites for low income residents aged 55+. The rest of the building provides 104 units of needed market rental housing.
Rezoning for the project received unanimous support from Vancouver City Council at a public hearing in October 2016. Mayor Gregor Robertson expressed “thanks to Oddfellows and the team who put this together and the neighbourhood for being accommodating” and called the project “an opportunity for us to get more much needed affordable housing which is a big gain—so important for the City.”
The Link project won a 2022 UDI Award for Excellence for Seniors Housing.