Westbank and Squamish nation to build 6000 units next to Burrard Bridge
‘This is just the beginning’: First Nations’ real estate mega projects game-changing for Metro Vancouver
Dan Fumano
The Vancouver Sun
Indigenous developers to build 25,000 new homes in Metro Vancouver
Wilson Williams is an elected councillor with the Squamish First Nation, photographed at the site of the planned Sen̓áḵw development. Photo by Francis Georgian /PNG
Standing between a pair of gleaming apartment buildings, a condo tower, a park, a future grocery store, and massive holes in the ground that will soon provide a daycare, community centre and hundreds of additional homes, Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow said: “This is the future.”
After many years and steep legal bills, the Musqueam First Nation reached a landmark settlement with the B.C. government in 2008, for the return of some of its traditional territory. Now the Musqueam are using some of those lands near the University of B.C. to provide badly needed housing for the broader community and generate economic prosperity for their Nation.
Sparrow welcomed a group of elders to visit Leləm̓, the village their Nation has built in partnership with Polygon. The housing includes market and below-market rentals and leasehold stratas on 99-year leases.
That leasehold structure is crucial, emphasized Sparrow. It could have been more profitable in the short term, he said, to develop the land and sell condos outright. But that was never really a consideration.
“We’re never selling the land,” Sparrow said. “It took us 100-some-odd years to get it back. We ain’t gonna sell it after going to court to fight to get it back.”
Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow with Polygon Homes CEO Neil Chrystal. Photo by Francis Georgian /PNG
The Leləm̓ community is just one of several major real estate developments in the pipeline from Vancouver-area First Nations, who have emerged as powerhouse developers in a region desperate for solutions to a housing shortage.
Postmedia analyzed eight major projects involving the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, both individually and together under their MST Development Corporation joint venture. Their plans cover nearly 1.1 square kilometres of property in Vancouver, Burnaby and the North Shore, promising more than 25,500 homes.
That’s more than the total number of homes that exist today in the city of Port Coquitlam.
These megaprojects, which include social housing, market rentals, condos and townhouses, plus schools, retail, cultural amenities and commercial spaces, are in various stages. Residents started moving into Leləm̓ last year. Sen̓áḵw in Vancouver is scheduled to be done in five years. Others are a decade or more away from completion.
Like Leləm̓, all these major projects feature rental homes and leasehold stratas, meaning the First Nations retain ownership of the land underneath. The importance of this fact comes up repeatedly in conversations with local Indigenous leaders: the Nations will always own the land.
This is not new. For decades, the Musqueam Nation has generated revenue through rental and leasehold housing on their reserve on Vancouver’s southern edge. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation has built and sold more than 1,000 leasehold condos and townhomes on reserve land.
But the MST Nations’ real estate activity today is on a completely different scale than in the past, and observers say it is beyond what other Indigenous developers are doing elsewhere in Canada. Today, the joint venture’s portfolio of developable prime urban real estate, and the number of units in the pipeline, make it one of B.C.’s largest developers.
MST Development’s CEO, David Negrin, recently put it in perspective while speaking to business and Indigenous leaders from across Canada at a meeting in Vancouver. Negrin, a three-decade industry veteran who was previously president of Aquilini Development, said in May that MST’s land holdings are valued at around $5 billion, which will be closer to $7.5 billion after their planned acquisition of another 0.75 of a square kilometre. By the time those properties are developed, Negrin estimated, the value of the portfolio will be closer to $30 billion.
“I’d say this: The most powerful developer in North America right now is MST, the three Nations coming together,” Negrin told the panel.
That “coming together” is a key point for many inside and outside the three First Nations.
Tsleil-Waututh Nation Coun. Dennis Thomas. Photo by Francis Georgian /PNG
Historically, the three Nations shared land, resources and family ties going back several generations, coexisting harmoniously, said Tsleil-Waututh Nation Coun. Dennis Thomas. “But as soon as colonization came and the Indian Act, we started fighting, because it’s like divide and conquer. … So for 100-plus years, we’ve wanted to get back to that harmonious and holistic table.”
Thomas and others have credited the 2010 Vancouver Olympics as bringing the Nations together. In the years following the Olympics, the Nations’ leaders worked together to reach a protocol agreement, which was signed in 2014, creating the MST Development Corporation.
Thomas recalled a past Tsleil-Waututh leader telling him: “You can have 33 per cent of something or 100 per cent of nothing.”
Now, the Nations are collaborating on what could become the first Indigenous-led bid in Olympic history, eyeing the 2030 Winter Games. The official Games concept, released last month by the Nations and the Canadian Olympic Committee, envisions using MST developments — it’s expected that could be the Heather or Jericho Lands properties — for an athletes’ village for athletes and team officials during the 2030 Olympics and then provide housing, including a non-market component, after the Games.
Other First Nations across Canada could learn from the MST story, said Ginger Gosnell-Myers, a fellow with SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, who focuses on decolonization and urban Indigenous planning.
“In other cities, (other First Nations) have overlapping land claims, and until they come together and agree to work in partnership as a family, they will continue to compete with one another and continue to miss opportunities,” she said.
“They will only succeed if they come together, and MST is demonstrating the success of that. Other communities haven’t caught up, but we’ll see how much things change in the next few years.”
Gosnell-Myers is happy the MST Nations have started to get “the visibility and respect they deserve, and an opportunity to really mark their stamp on their own land.”
But, she added, “these early projects, as impressive as they are, we’re still seeing some shortfalls that I think future projects will hopefully be able to address.”
The shortfalls, Gosnell-Myers said, include concerns she hears from some MST members that there aren’t more affordable homes in these megaprojects designated for members of the Nations.
“One concern I hear from MST members on the ground is: ‘Who is this even for? People are getting rich and it’s not us,’” Gosnell-Myers said.
Ginger Gosnell-Myers, with SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. Photo by Francis Georgian /PNG
MST Development Corporation is directed by a board of elected councillors from the three nations. But the lack of MST members in the corporation’s senior management roles is something the current, non-Indigenous executives themselves want to change, said Brennan Cook, MST Development’s vice-president of development and acquisition.
The goal is for the CEO and other top jobs to one day be filled by MST members, Cook said.
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“I’d like to see that day sooner rather than later,” Cook said. “I really love working with the Nations, but if David (Negrin, the CEO) and I do a really good job, we’ll be out of a job. And I would sleep well knowing that MSTDC is in good hands.”
For many of these megaprojects, the MST Nations have been partnering with some of B.C.’s largest developers: Polygon, Westbank, Aquilini.
A relatively small townhouse project planned in West Vancouver will be the first project MST Development handles on its own, and that is the eventual goal for all projects, Cook said. “In the future, development partners won’t be needed.”
Leaders from the Nations, including Sparrow and Thomas, say another part of the vision includes having more band members working on projects.
Thomas, who is completing his MBA at Simon Fraser University, said there is already a surge of interest among young Nation members in careers spinning off from these megaprojects: engineering, property management, architecture, electrical, plumbing, construction, interior design, real estate development, marketing.
“The careers are endless,” Thomas said. “Before, we were hunters and gatherers. Today, we’re modern-day hunters: We get degrees, we get MBAs to help provide for our Nations.”
The MST Nations’ real estate ventures have been applauded by local political leaders, and garnered positive international attention from the likes of The Economist and New York Times.
But not everyone is happy. Neighbours near some of the proposed developments have raised concerns about their size.
After concepts for MST’s plans at Jericho Lands were released earlier this year, including towers up to 38 storeys, a group of West Point Grey residents organized in opposition, hiring a well-known lobbyist and communications professional, and now city council candidate, Bill Tieleman, who told CTV News the fight against MST building tall towers at Jericho was part of “a battle for the soul of Vancouver.”
Last week, the Kits Point Residents Association issued a press release that said while they support the Squamish Nation’s ability to develop its own lands, they consider the high-density Sen̓áḵw proposal for Kits Point — of 11 towers of up to 57 storeys — “shockingly outside the boundaries” of existing city plans, resources and zoning.
This particular debate highlights the complexities of developing on reserve land, such as the 10-acre parcel near the south end of the Burrard Bridge where the Squamish Nation is planning Sen̓áḵw.
Half of the projects analyzed by Postmedia are MST joint ventures on “fee-simple” properties, which were acquired from the provincial and federal governments and must go through the same municipal rezoning processes as other major projects from private-sector and non-profit developers.
The Heather Lands, for example, received a rezoning approval in May from Vancouver council, the first MST joint venture to reach this stage, but still requires additional permits from city hall before construction can begin, which likely won’t be until 2024, almost a decade after planning began on the project.
In the other half of the projects, one of the Nations has individually partnered with a developer. If property is being developed is reserve land, as is the case with Sen̓ákw, municipal governments do not have the same authority. This has allowed the Squamish Nation to pursue far greater density for Sen̓ákw than the neighbouring area — and move far faster.
The Squamish Nation membership voted in 2019 with 87 per cent in favour of pursuing the project, with partner Westbank. Only three years later, they expect they could break ground on the project this year, a speed that would be unheard of for a 6,000-unit development going through city hall.
At a panel talk last month hosted by The Vancouver Sun, Bernd Christmas, CEO of the Squamish Nation’s economic development arm Nch’ḵay̓, said Sen̓ákw is not some kind of “Wild West” development. He insisted it is heavily regulated and rigorously planned, with environmental assessments, high architectural standards, and the rest.
“But we’ve just learned the secret of making it go quicker, by about five to 10 years,” Christmas told the panel, which included some of the biggest names in B.C.’s development industry. “If you have developments that are facing six-year, 10-year delays, come see us. Let’s move.”
The Tsleil-Waututh Nation has been trying for years to develop a large mixed-use community combining residential, commercial, educational, retail and community uses just off the Dollarton Highway, in partnership with Darwin Construction. But they faced “roadblocks” with the District of North Vancouver, “including three rejections of our rezoning application” in 2018 and 2019, the Tsleil-Waututh chief and council wrote last year in an op-ed in The North Shore News.
So, in 2019 the Tsleil-Waututh Nation decided to apply to the federal government to add the property to its reserve lands.
That “addition to reserve” application is under review by the federal government. If Ottawa approves it, that means the district council will lose any power to determine how the land is used or collect tax revenue on it.
The Kits Point Residents Association said this week that city leaders saying they “effectively have no jurisdiction” over Sen̓ákw is “an abdication” of their authority, arguing the municipality should have the power to negotiate plans for the site because it will rely on city services like water and sewer.
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said those residents are not wrong about reserves relying on municipal services. But he disagrees with their point.
There is “a long-held colonial practice” of Canadian municipalities withholding services from First Nations reserves in urban and suburban areas, Stewart said. “We have an obligation to provide services as a good neighbour. To use that as a tool for blackmail really isn’t in the spirit of reconciliation.”
“That is a colonial approach, and you’ve got to get a different mayor if that’s what you want, because that’s not what I’m about,” Stewart added.
A services agreement between the Squamish Nation and the city is nearly finalized, and the mayor predicted it will not generate many complaints from Vancouverites when it’s released publicly.
“I think it could be used as a template for the rest of the province,” Stewart said. “We’ll be talking to other municipalities about it once it’s fully released.”
Wilson Williams is an elected councillor with the Squamish First Nation. Photo by Francis Georgian /PNG
Sen̓ákw has been described as groundbreaking — by both supporters and detractors — but it could be just the beginning. The Squamish Nation alone has dozens of parcels of reserve land, including along the North Shore, up the Howe Sound to Whistler, and on the Sunshine Coast. And that is just one First Nation.
Squamish First Nation Coun. Wilson Williams wouldn’t disclose details, but confirmed the Nation is discussing “a list of potential land developments.”
“We’re listening to our people and our ancestors who helped us get here,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of potential … but we want to do it the right way.
“We’re thinking seven generations down the road.”
At the housing panel last month, the Nch’ḵay̓ CEO responded to a question about how B.C. municipalities can try to meet the desperate need for rental housing.
“Really, to me, it’s very simple,” Christmas said. “There’s over 200 First Nations in this province. Why aren’t developers going to the First Nations? Why go to municipalities?”
At that point, Christmas’s fellow panelist, Joy MacPhail, the former B.C. deputy premier who chaired an expert panel last year set up by the B.C. and federal governments to make recommendations on housing affordability and supply, leaned toward Christmas and, over audible laughs from the audience, asked him with a smile: “Did you bring business cards?”
Later in the evening, Christmas told the crowd: “I’d suggest that any developers that want to do stuff here in the traditional territory of Squamish — 6,700 square kilometres — yes, we’re open for business.”
Johnna Sparrow, the Aboriginal relations adviser for Aquilini Development who previously worked for the Musqueam, said these projects will always face some detractors. But she added people should remember that local First Nations had vast tracts of land that provided abundant resources for them to live, until it was violently taken away from them.
Those traditional ways of life — fish, hunting, vegetation — are now depleted, so instead the Nations are looking to generate other economic opportunities from the land.
“This is just the beginning,” Sparrow said. “It’s a long road ahead of us, but it’s one that we have to create in order to break the mould of dependence on the government and criticism from the general public about we get everything for nothing, when everything’s been taken away from us. We’re still here. And we’re not going anywhere.”
Eight big projects
Eight of the major Indigenous-led developments in Metro Vancouver:
• Sen̓ákw in Vancouver: From the Squamish Nation and Westbank, it promises 6,000 new homes, mostly rentals, near the Burrard Bridge. It is expected to be completed by 2027, and will include 250 affordable units for Squamish Nation families.
Aerial illustration of the proposed Sen̓áḵw development in Kitsilano, near the Burrard Bridge. Photo by Senakw website
• Jericho Lands on a third of a square kilometre site in West Point Grey is a project by MST and the Canada Lands Company, which is to build some 10,000 new homes for up to 18,000 residents.
Handout rendering of Jericho Lands Concept. Photo by Hariri Pontarini Architects with Urban Strategies Inc.
• The Heather Lands, a 15-year project to build 2,600 homes in South Cambie, is by MST and Canada Lands Company. It would also include shops, parks, a daycare, a cultural centre and a forest trail.
Handout out concept illustration for Heather Lands in Vancouver. Photo by Matthew Thomson
• Willingdon Lands is a joint venture by the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, and Aquilini Investment Group, to build 5,239 units of housing that includes leasehold strata, market rental, and affordable rental. It is also to include a daycare and two large parks with a network of trails.
Artist rendering of part of the 40-acre Willingdon Lands project to be located in Burnaby, being planned by the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh, and Aquilini Development. Photo by aquilinidevelopment.com
• Marine Drive Lands is to produce 150 townhouses on five acres in West Vancouver by MST with no outside developer. The project is to support the “missing middle,” seniors and young families.
Artist rendering of 150 new townhouses to be built at 4195 Marine Drive in West Vancouver. This proposal includes three townhouse buildings, at three storeys in height. Photo by MST Development
• Leləm̓ is a joint venture by Musqueam and Polygon, Townline and other development partners, to build a 21-acre community near UBC that, within 10 years, is to have approximately 1,250 homes. Residents started moving into homes in the first completed buildings last year, and future phases will build additional homes, a community centre, daycare and retail.
An artist rendering of the West Wind building, part of the Leləm̓ development near UBC. jpg
• The Tsleil-Waututh, in partnership with Darwin Construction, hopes to build the large Statləw̓ District project in North Vancouver, to include work, school and retail services, and homes. It is under review by the federal government.
The Tsleil-Waututh, in conjunction with Darwin Construction, hopes to build a big development in North Vancouver, to include work, school and retail services, and up to 275 housing units. It is under review by the federal government. jpg
• MST and Aquilini also plan to develop the former B.C. Liquor Distribution Centre in Vancouver. Few details are known yet, although developers told city hall the project would include “residential, light industrial and commercial uses”.
An early artist rendering of the development at 3200 East Broadway by the MST Development Corporation and Aquilini Development. This project is still in the early stages of planning. Photo by aquilinidevelopment.com
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