Molnar Group offers modest rents in Vancouver project but doesn’t ask city for freebie on fees

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      A family-run development company is proposing moderate rents at its new project in East Vancouver.

      In exchange, the Molnar Group could have requested city hall to exempt it from paying development cost levies or DCLs.

      However, the company asked for none.

      The project is at 2543-2583 Renfrew Street and 2895 East 10th Avenue, and it involves a seven-storey, mixed-used building.

      There will be 96 rental units above commercial spaces to be located at the ground floor.

      Twenty percent of these units will be dedicated to households earning moderate incomes.

      Through a company acting as nominee, the Molnar Group has filed a rezoning application for the project under the City of Vancouver’s Moderate Income Rental Housing Pilot Program.

      A studio in this mix of about 19 moderate rental units will have a starting monthly rent of $950. This is affordable for households earning an average income of $38,000 per year.

      A one-bedroom unit will go for $1,200, affordable for those earning $48,000.

      A two-bedroom unit will have a starting rent of $1,600, which is deemed affordable for households earning $64,000.

      A three-bedroom unit will rent for $2,000, an affordable rate for those with an average annual income of $80,000.

      “Based on median incomes for Metro Vancouver, a one-bedroom unit in the Moderate Income Rental component would be affordable to persons employed in a variety of occupations such as services workers, trades workers, entry level researchers and non-profit workers,” city planner Karen Hoese explained in a report to council.

      Hoese also wrote in her report that a three-bedroom unit would “meet the needs of a two-income family employed in such sectors as the trades, industrial arts, and human resources”.

      “The rents in the market rental component of the project will be affordable to persons employed in a variety of professions within Vancouver,” Hoese continued.

      Hoese report indicates that the rents at the market component of the project correspond to average market rents in newer buildings in the east side of the city.

      These rents are: studio, $1,556; one bedroom, $1,746; two bedrooms, $2,339; and three bedrooms, $2,828.

      These rates are lower than the starting rents provided in the city’s rental incentives guidelines for a developer to qualify for a DCL exemption.

      The starting rents in the city bylaw are $1,607 for a studio on the east side of the city; $1,869 for a one bedroom; $2,457, two bedrooms; and $3,235, three bedrooms.

      “A market rental studio unit could be affordable to a single person working in occupations in the education sector and industrial sector,” Hoese wrote in her report. “A two-bedroom market rental unit could be affordable to a couple that work in construction or manufacturing.”

      The city expects to collect more than $2.2 million in total DCLs from the mixed-use development. 

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