Southeast Vancouver's River District, which encompasses Boundary Road, Marine Way, Kerr Street and the Fraser River, will be seeing major improvements in the way of residential developments. This riverfront community covering 120-acres is in the midst of seeing 1,250 homes underway with thousands more anticipated. There will be approximately 7,000 homes in this area which will be able to house up to 17,000 residents. Marine Way has already seen improvements earlier this year in terms of aesthetics such as shrubbery and in road improvements such as including new traffic signals.
RD2, our unofficial name for this development, is Vancouver's last waterfront community. According to Beau Jarvis, Wesgroup senior VP, "[t]his site was one of the largest, if not the largest, rezoning since the Expo lands". This project has been in the works for quite some time as "it took about 10 years to obtain the zoning and get an official development plan with the City of Vancouver while working with the community", stated Jarvis. Back in 2010, Polygon Homes bought approximately 15 acres of the site and expects to finish building another 156 pre-sold homes by the summer time. In addition, they are working on a development called "Rhythm" which is expected to break ground this spring.
The site's overall master developer, Wesgroup, has even more grandiose plans. Their near-term plans include the development of 700 homes in two towers - a mid-rise and one that is slated to be 18 storeys. Development permits have yet to be received, however, Jarvis expects "prior-to" letters from the City relatively soon. Upon receipt of the required documents, Wesgroup will then be able to launch its project and start with the marketing of this River District development project.