Retail tenants revealed for Brentwood

It has been about 2 months since my last post.  During that time, the Willingdon Linear Park has won an award while cycling advocates complain about not having a dedicated bike path along the length of the park.  If we are having discussions and debates about separating pedestrian from bicycle paths, it's a good thing as we move towards designing our city to be more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly

As the pedestrian areas in and around Brentwood's Entertainment Plaza begin to take shape with nicely lit steps, benches and beautiful greenery in the form of trees and shrubs, it appears that a full opening of Phase 1 of the Brentwood development has been delayed.  However some retail names have been revealed for the development as it inches closer to a gradual opening that will unfold between this fall and 2020.  According to the Daily Hive article below, the Cactus Club and McDonald's, will join Starbucks in the Entertainment Plaza.  H&M, Wilfred, Nike and Adidas have joined Sporting Life among the retailers announced.  More retail names should be revealed beginning this fall.

First look inside: The Amazing Brentwood shopping mall will live up to its name (PHOTOS)

Kenneth Chan

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Jul 26 2019, 9:59 am

It is safe to say The Amazing Brentwood (TAB) will live up to its name.

The first phase of the expansive redevelopment of what was previously known as Brentwood Town Centre shopping mall is now racing towards completion, with project team crews now well into the process of incrementally handing over completed shell commercial spaces to the construction contractors hired by the many retailers.

Darren Kwiatkowski, the executive vice-president of acquisitions and development for Shape Properties, provided Daily Hive this week with an exclusive first glimpse of the project nearing its final stage.

“We’re really excited that after many years of planning, design, and construction, we are close to being finished,” said Kwiatkowski.

“This place is coming alive… We think the public will be very excited and really embrace the project, and we’re looking forward to many years of success here.”

To say the least, it is certainly a highly impressive application and scale of a mixed-use, transit-oriented redevelopment concept; much attention to detail has been provided to this $1.5-billion phase of the new indoor and outdoor shopping mall with a wide range of retail and dining, residential and office spaces, and an immersive public realm.

The new shopping mall’s selection of retail, restaurants, and entertainment, with a greater-than-normal emphasis on the latter two, is intended to bring people to TAB. It speaks to how the next generation of malls in the rising retail age of e-commerce are increasingly focusing on creating experiential activations that supplement traditional retail.

To achieve an optimal mix of global luxury, mid-market, and local-serving retail, the developer partnered with global firm L Catterton Real Estate to turn TAB into a mall with high-calibre architecture, public art, and world-renowned and luxury retail brands.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE WITH PHOTOS

37-storey office tower proposed for Burnaby's Brentwood district

Gilmore Place is already on its way to building the tallest residential tower.  It will also be able to boast the largest office tower in Burnaby.  Daily Hive news story below.

37-storey office tower proposed for Burnaby's Brentwood district: Burnaby's largest office tower has been proposed for the new Gilmore Place redevelopment in the Brentwood Town Centre area.

Starbucks increasing presence at Brentwood

The first corporate logo has appeared at the station entrance level of the Entertainment Plaza of the Amazing Brentwood development.  With the retail portion of Brentwood scheduled to open in 2019, we can expect more revelations regarding store and restaurant locations.  The Starbucks logo can now be seen from the street.  Starbucks already has a location at the rear of the mall near London Drugs.  Other locations in the area include Solo District and across the street from there on  Lougheed Hwy, along with one on the corner of Dawson and Gilmore.

 

While we wait for for new retailers to reveal themselves at Brentwood, two pizza shops have quietly arrived in the area along with a Poke shop..  A Domino's pizza has opened on Dawson St and Willingdon Ave.  A Pizza Pizza and Pacific Poke have opened in the old plaza which already houses Starbucks, FatBurger and Buffalo's World Famous Wings.

 

Brentwood Two topped off

The Brentwood Two tower has reached full height and has become one of the two tallest buildings in Burnaby.  Brentwood One is the other one.  Both buildings will be occupied by the end of this year with residents beginning to occupy Brentwood One by this summer.  Despite having some media present to commemorate the topping off of Brentwood Two, no mention was made of any new retailers or restaurants.

Burnaby Now article below

Burnaby’s tallest building ‘topped off’ as Brentwood megaproject grows: Steven Cirotto stood at the microphone Friday and talked about growing up in the Heights. The operations manager for the construction company Axiom said he still remembers how special Christmas . . .

Gilmore Place ready for excavation

As the Amazing Brentwood approaches Phase One completion this year, the other major station centered development of the area is preparing to get digging.  Onni's massive Gilmore Place development will include the tallest tower in the region and will be a gateway to the Brentwood area of Burnaby on the Millenium SkyTrain Line.

Burnaby Lake Arena should be twinned

The City of Burnaby has recently approved its Proposed Priority Community Amenity Projects.  In my opinion, it is welcome news for city residents as community centre capacity will significantly increase for the Brentwood area with the replacement of the Willingdon Community Centre and the expansion of amenity space at Confederation Park replacing the previously torn down Willingdon Heights Community Centre and the North Burnaby Gym.

Also among the priorities is the replacement of Burnaby Lake Arena and CG Brown Memorial Pool.  Anyone familiar with arena scheduling will tell you that there is an extremely greater demand for arena ice and floor time than the capacity that currently exists between Burnaby Lake, Bill Copeland and Kensington arenas.  Between Burnaby Minor Hockey, Burnaby New West Ringette, skating groups,  Burnaby Minor Lacrosse, and Metro Minor Ball Hockey Association, not to mention public skating programs and events, there is not enough time to fully meet the demand that currently exists for arena space.  Burnaby Minor Hockey Association is one of the largest minor hockey associations in the region with kids ending up on a waitlist to play.  The association is also required to rent private ice from Burnaby 8 Rinks to meet practice and game requirements for the players that are able to play.  Metro Minor Ball Hockey Association turns away a larger number of kids every year as there is not enough floor time for ball hockey in the spring and summer.

Even the upcoming addition of 2 more sheets of ice near Byrne Creek Secondary School will not meet demand for ice and floor time.  Furthermore, population growth projections suggest that even a twinning of Burnaby Lake Arena will not be adequate.  Building one rink versus 2 attached rinks may cost more in the short term,  but the average building and maintenance cost per rink is significantly lower when considering that the arena cooling system is a major cost that is capable of freezing two or more ice sheets and would be a financial waste to install a system for merely one new sheet of ice.

Looking at the size of the property at Kensington Ave between Sprott Street and Joe Sakic Way,  there is more than enough room to accommodate more than two new sheets of ice and provide the same or more amount of parking spaces.

With Burnaby 8 Rinks, Fortius Centre, the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex soccer fields and the proposed future Tennis Canada Training facility adjacent to the soccer fields, the area north of Hwy 1 on Kensington Ave is developing  into a major sports destination.  The City of Burnaby already has a Div 2 NCAA hockey team playing out of Bill Copeland Arena (SFU Hockey). The City is hosting an IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship exhibition game between Russia and Switzerland this month and will host the World Ringette Championships in 2019.  The addition of more arena capacity will give the City of Burnaby a greater profile as a potential host city for more events int the future and bringing spin-off tourism revenue.  With a steadily increasing demand for arena ice and floor time not showing signs of abating, it would be a wise decision if the City of Burnaby studies the feasibility of twinning Burnaby Lake Arena instead of merely replacing it and looking to maximize the potential future economic benefits of such an expansion.

Community Centre and Tesla coming to Amazing Brentwood

The two opposite ends of the Brentwood Mall site have recently been discussed at the December Burnaby Council meetings.  As part of Phase 2 of the Amazing Brentwood Project, Shape Properties has forwarded its plan to construct a residential high-rise tower atop a commercial podium that will also include a new Brentwood community centre at the northwest corner of the Brentwood Mall site.

Shape Properties has also presented a letter seeking approval for the building of a Tesla showroom within the former Sears building at the eastern end of the Brentwood Mall site.