Residential developments are arriving ahead of the proposed Broadway subway in Vancouver.

Rezoning applications have been filed to build rental homes at two locations along West Broadway. One is at 1296 West Broadway, at the corner of Birch Street, where a 16-storey building has been proposed for the current location of a Denny’s restaurant.

The site is between two potential stations of the subway, which is projected to extend the SkyTrain’s Millennium Line from VCC-Clark Station to Arbutus Street.

To the east, a subway station is planned for the southeast corner of West Broadway and Oak Street, where a 10-storey office and retail building is currently under development. To the west is Granville Street, where one of six underground stations for the subway is anticipated.

The 1296 West Broadway proposal involves 153 rental homes, with retail on the ground level.

The other rezoning application is for a couple of properties farther west, at the northwest corner of West Broadway and Alma Street.

The project will consolidate the location of a strip mall at 3701 West Broadway and a residential lot at 3743 West Broadway into one property. A six-storey building with 94 rental homes and retail on the ground level has been proposed for the site.

Under phase one of the possible Broadway extension of the Millennium Line, B-Line bus service—which now runs from Commercial Drive—will connect Arbutus Street to UBC.

UBC-bound buses currently turn left from West Broadway onto Alma Street and head to West 10th Avenue on the way to the university.

The rezoning application for 3701–3743 West Broadway notes that the site has been “identified as a potential future location for a transit station going to UBC”.