The City of Port Coquitlam is moving ahead with a major development it says will help revitalize the city’s downtown core.
The plan calls for the redevelopment of a city-owned parking lot at 2241-2251 McAllister Ave. into a five-storey building with street level businesses and about 60 market strata apartment units.
The city says the project will have a street-level plaza and extension of the Port Coquitlam’s new Donald Pathway.
“We’ve already started to build the energy of our downtown with the development of our new community centre, but it has the potential to be an even more welcoming and lively destination for people to live, work, get together and have fun,” said Mayor Brad West.
“McAllister Avenue is in the heart of our downtown and the perfect place to kick off the revitalization. We expect this to be a catalyst for more to come and give a whole new life to downtown Port Coquitlam.”
West said he believes the project will add a major new pedestrian element to the city’s downtown.
Finding ways to spruce up the downtown core has been on West’s agenda for some time. Back in 2018 he warned the area was being taken over by “deadbeats” and a “bad element,” with a spike in drug and property crime.
The 33,000-square-foot project will see a portion of the street-level commercial space transferred back to the city, which could be used for restaurant, recreation or office space.
The project still needs to go through regulatory approval and the development permit process, during which the city will collect public comment.
The city says once it’s fully approved, the development is anticipated to take about two years to build.
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