Fort Langley builder Eric Woodward has applied to construct a mix of business, retail and residential on the west side of Glover Road across from the Coulter Berry building.
Woodward described the proposed Glover Road West design filed with the Township as a “compromise proposal that creates new destinations, restores heritage, and preserves an important, significant tree.”
The 70-year-old old walnut tree at 9217 Glover Road would be preserved, and the 1915-era “Fort Grocery” heritage building down the street would be restored and remain in its original location.
The initial design allows for two restaurants with patios, one with a rooftop patio, multiple retail, a destination playground with public washrooms, microbrewery, micro-distillery, offices, live/work studios, brownstones, apartments and lane way housing
Features include a rooftop greenhouse to grow fruit and vegetables for the restaurant with the rooftop patio, along with an underground growing area and rainwater recapture.
There are 28 residential units proposed, 10 fewer than permitted, and 100 parking spots, 18 more than current municipal regulations require.
Woodward said there will be “an extensive round of open houses and other feedback mechanisms this summer, to collect opinions, feedback, and suggestions for improvements.”
With the latest application, Woodward’s company, Statewood Properties, now has three Fort Langley projects awaiting a decision at the Township.
At Glover Road and Mary Avenue, Statewood is proposing a three-storey complex with a boutique hotel and a courtyard plaza, and on a 33-foot-wide lot at 9180 Glover Road, the proposal is for a modern-style two-storey building that departs from the traditional look of most Fort Langley frontages.
Woodward estimates the three projects combined are worth $70 million.
The tentative construction schedule calls for work on the three projects to begin in 2019, finishing in 2024.
Statewood’s Coulter Berry building at Glover Road and Mavis, which opened last year, took longer than expected to complete because opponents of the three-storey mix of retail, office and residential took the Township of Langley to court and forced an eight-month halt to construction.
The B.C. Court of Appeal eventually declared the Township had acted properly.
