Photo credit Daily Hive
A significant mixed-use commercial complex with unique hotel and office uses is proposed just west of SkyTrain Aberdeen Station within Richmond’s city center.
After years of planning, CIBT Education Group and its Global Education City (GEC) division are proceeding with their plans to open a long-term stay student hotel attached to a campus of private post-secondary institutions.
The development site, currently occupied by light industrial and commercial uses, is located at 7780-7840 River Road, just north of the intersection with Cambie Road. But the complex would face a yet-to-be-built segment of River Parkway, along the east side of the property.
Based on the recently submitted rezoning application, GEC Cyber City, the name of the complex under CIBT’s branding, would entail an 11-storey hotel with 183 suites for students. Under City policies for a long-term stay hotel, the guest length of stay will be limited to a maximum of six months per year.
Photo credits Daily Hive
The hotel, retail, and restaurant uses would have a combined floor area of about 83,000 sq ft.
Another 150,000 sq ft within the adjacent eight-storey building would be dedicated to office uses, occupied by educational institutions.
The total floor area of the entire complex would reach about 233,000 sq ft.
The latest design by Urban Solutions Architecture considerably streamlines the form and concept of the buildings. A previous concept design depicted a large single structure with its various interior spaces interconnected by a large central indoor atrium, but the latest design as proposed in the rezoning application shows two separate buildings, with a minor connection established by an enclosed pedestrian bridge on the third level.
Previous design for GEC Cyber City:
Newly revised design for GEC Cyber City:
Photo credit Daily Hive
In exchange for the rezoning, CIBT will offer significant public benefits, including a one block northward extension of River Parkway from the intersection with Cambie Street to a new wrap-around perpendicular road on the north side of the property.
In 2021, the City of Richmond opened its first span of River Parkway road, which is built on the former Canadian Pacific railway corridor acquired by the municipality in 2005. This first span stretched one kilometer south-north from Gilbert Road to Cambie Road.
River Parkway’s current standard is a two-lane road for vehicles, but over time it will be widened to a four-lane arterial road from new property setbacks through redevelopments on both sides of the roadway, and through continuous extensions its northernmost end will meet Capstan Way. The creation of River Parkway provides not only more arterial road capacity for Richmond city center’s densification, but also allows the existing River Road along the Fraser River waterfront to be downgraded as a pedestrian-friendly public space at water’s edge.
2023 artistic rendering of the revised design for GEC Cyber City at 7780-7840 River Road, Richmond. (Urban Solutions Architecture/CIBT Education Group)
Other public benefits created through the GEC Cyber City project entail a five-ft height increase to the adjacent river dike, the funding and construction of a carbon energy plant for municipal government ownership, and other public realm improvements.
Two underground levels will accommodate 217 vehicle parking stalls, with 50% of the stalls set aside for public parking, 25% for assigned spaces, and 25% for employees and carpooling. The vehicle parking supply represents a 20% reduction over City requirements, made possible through transportation demand management measures including bike parking and end-of-trip cycling facilities, a 16-seat shuttle bus service for building users funded by the developer for at least three years, and $100,000 towards an employee transit pass program.
CIBT had previously planned on opening GEC Education Super Centre — student housing and educational institutions within office space — as a component of the major Atmosphere mixed-use development next to SkyTrain Lansdowne Station. But construction, which began in 2019, has stalled due to the financial issues of Alderbridge Way Limited Partnership, the developer of the project. Construction has come to a halt, the building permit has expired, and the project is mired in lawsuits. CIBT is also suing a mortgage lender, Romspen Investment Corporation, for allegations of a breach of contract for the non-advancement of funds for its portion of Atmosphere.
Through a bidding process, there is now an attempt to sell Atmosphere to another developer in order to see the project’s completion. Atmosphere entails an 80,000 sq ft office building, along with retail space and over 800 residential units, primarily condominiums.
CIBT’s largest future project is GEC Education Mega Centre — a 545-ft-tall, 49-storey tower on the former site of Stardust roller rink at 10240 City Parkway, near SkyTrain Surrey Central Station and the SFU Surrey campus
It also has a cluster of locations along Vancouver’s Cambie Corridor, including 200 beds of student housing at GEC King Edward, next to SkyTrain King Edward Station, reaching completion later this year, and a future 18-storey tower with 475 beds at GEC Oakridge, next to SkyTrain Oakridge-41st Avenue Station.
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