During the mid-to-late 1980s, most people thought of “Metrotown” as three adjacent shopping centres along Kingsway, just east of Willingdon Avenue. A decade earlier, Burnaby city council had passed a Metrotown development plan, but the area didn’t really acquire its modern character until the three malls, a first office tower, a nearby SkyTrain station, and a new library were completed. This was followed by the construction of residential high-rises, hotel accommodation, the Crystal Mall, and more office space. With all of this, Metrotown evolved into the region’s second downtown.

If there was any doubt about that, it was dispelled in February when Bosa Properties sold a whopping $98-million worth of real estate in a single day. This occurred at Sovereign, a hotel-retail-condominium project at 4509 Kingsway, which is expected to be completed in the spring of 2014. The 152-metre tower will be the region’s highest building, thanks to its location near the peak of West Burnaby.

In light of the sales activity at Sovereign, it’s no surprise that other developers are eyeing Metrotown’s potential. Architect Jordan Kutev has filed a rezoning application on behalf of his client, Gurkripa Holdings Ltd., to build an apartment tower over a podium at 6380 Silver Avenue, just south of the Metrotown SkyTrain station. If approved, it would replace an older three-storey apartment building, according to a Burnaby staff report.

“The site is…considered suitable for the proposed development given its strategic location in relation to the BC Parkway, the Expo SkyTrain line, the Metrotown SkyTrain station, Station Square and Metropolis Shopping Centres, and Metrotown core area, as well as it also represents the further advancement of the art street concept approved by Council for Beresford Street,” the staff report states.

Meanwhile, Donato Vito De Cotiis of Otivo Development (Sardis) Ltd. has filed an application concerning two lots at 4249 and 4265 Sardis Street, north of where Grange Street intersects Kingsway. The company wants them rezoned from “R5 Residential District” to “CD Comprehensive Development District”, which would allow for multiple-family dwellings. One of the properties is a single-family home; the other is an “older two-family dwelling”, according to a second Burnaby staff report.

The document notes that the properties are in an area that “serves as a transition from the established single- and two-family urban neighbourhoods north of Bond Street and the high-density multiple family residential and medium-density mixed use developments generally designated south of Grange Street”.

There’s a catch for the developer, though. The staff report states that the company wants to buy a third lot at 4235 Sardis Street, but the owner has refused to sell “at this time”. Because Otivo Development (Sardis) has made “reasonable attempts to acquire the property, the proposed two-lot assembly is considered supportable”.

Both of the Metrotown rezoning applications will go to a public hearing on October 25.

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.