Rental housing tower at Fraser Street and Kingsway corner among first major Broadway Plan projects to begin construction
March 20, 2026
Earlier this month, construction officially began on a new 24-storey rental housing tower at the northeast corner of the prominent intersection of Kingsway and Fraser Street in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant area.
This is local developer Qualex-Landmark’s redevelopment of the 1987-built strip mall site at 701 Kingsway, which has since been demolished.
The project’s rezoning application was approved by Vancouver City Council in November 2024, and the development permit application was green lighted in April 2025.
This is among the first and largest rental housing projects, directly catalyzed by the municipal government’s 2022-approved Broadway Plan’s policies, prescriptions, and stipulations, to enter into the construction stage.
It is also moving forward against very challenging market conditions, including rising construction costs, persistently high borrowing rates for development financing, and softer rental demand amid slower population growth and broader economic uncertainty.
As a result, the project’s ability to proceed at this time stands out.
While rental housing demand has softened — following a major wave of newly-completed secured purpose-built rental projects that first began in 2025 and is continuing into 2026 — this development is ultimately positioned to meet future housing needs, as completion remains several years away.
“This is really happening. Groundbreakings are few and far between these days, so when we get the chance to celebrate one, we should,” said Henry McQueen, the executive vice president of development at Qualex-Landmark.
“You can’t live in an approval. At some point, plans need to become buildings.”
Upon completion later this decade, the project will deliver 200 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 160 market rental units and 40 below-market units. The development will also be mixed-use, featuring more than 6,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space at street level.
Additionally, the development will have a privately-owned, publicly-accessible courtyard — activated by the street-level commercial uses, and providing an east-west, mid-block pedestrian route between the intersection corner and the laneway behind the site.
There will be two underground levels with 60 vehicle parking stalls and nearly 400 secured bike parking spaces. RWA Architecture is the project’s lead design firm.
The site is well served by frequent TransLink bus routes running along Kingsway and Fraser Street.