River District Vancouver: Waterfront Living at its Finest

Plaza at River District Vancouver

Wesgroup brings an impressive master-planned community to South Vancouver

Along the Fraser River, just off Marine Way and Boundary, you’ll find River District Vancouver. Once home to sawmills, award-winning Wesgroup is transforming this largest and last waterfront development in Vancouver.

Spanning 130 acres, River District is three times the size of Granville Island. Once completed in another 15 years, this once relatively unknown industrial zone will be a vibrant destination for walking, biking, living and shopping.

“This site was one of the largest, if not the largest, rezoning projects since the Expo lands,” says Wesgroup senior vice-president Beau Jarvis.

In another first, the family-owned company spent years consulting with the very people who would be affected by the changes. 

“For the past 10 years, we have worked very closely with the community, engaging them in a robust public consultation plan to establish a framework for their wants and needs,” he adds. “In 2008, we brought in a land-use planner and we set up a week’s worth of workshops. The results of those workshops were the foundation for what is there today.”

River District Vancouver is becoming its own mini-city complete with a European-style town centre—a pedestrian-only plaza of shops, restaurants, cafes, grocery store, banks and other services. This master-planned community is showcased by riverfront pathways, sports fields and an already active waterfront community centre.

“We expect that within the next 15 to 20 years, River District Vancouver could have 15,000 residents,” adds Jarvis. “We provided two acres for civic use, which includes a projected elementary and high school, four daycares and a park.”
 
For Wesgroup, River District Vancouver presents a rare opportunity to build a community from the ground up, and it’s been a challenging and inspiring process that has taken many years. The next phase of development is mostly residential with some retail and community amenities.

Today, River District Vancouver features 500 multi-family homes with 1300 new homes under construction.  

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