Coriolis was selected by a group of cooperating agencies, including Metro Vancouver, TransLink, BC Housing, and Van City Credit Union to identify strategies to increase the amount of new rental housing constructed in locations with high transit service. The study identifies the market and financial barriers that are limiting the amount of rental construction and explores the potential to address these barriers with zoning, cost reduction, creative financing, and other levers.

The City of Burlington, Ontario is experiencing an increase in market interest in redevelopment to create new higher density residential projects, in part because of strong housing price growth in the GTA. The City asked Coriolis to help it increase its capability in analyzing how much new density is needed to make redevelopment financially viable and in using provincial legislation to obtain public benefits that address the needs and impacts of new development.

The owners of a major Vancouver area regional shopping centre retained Coriolis to provide market analysis and financial modeling for a proposed complete redevelopment to include high density residential, ground floor retail, office, hotel, and other uses.

Coriolis has been engaged by the Prince George Airport Authority to identify potential opportunities for development of air-side and ground-side lands for light industrial use.

Coriolis is assisting the City of Surrey in evaluating potential for transit oriented development (TOD) and higher density urban development at station locations on proposed LRT lines extending from Surrey City Centre to South Surrey and to Langley.

Coriolis provided expert urban planning advice regarding land acquisitions for construction of the Evergreen rapid transit line in Metro Vancouver. Services included advising on property acquisition strategies, identifying development opportunities, and providing opinion reports needed for expropriation proceedings.

Vancouver, BC

The provincial and federal governments each own large adjacent tracts of land in Vancouver that are called the Jericho lands. Both levels of government retained us to conduct a detailed evaluation of the development potential of the land, to estimate the costs of a major rezoning and redevelopment plan, and to estimate the net yield from disposition of the land.

West Vancouver, BC

West Vancouver needed a new police headquarters to replace an old existing facility that was inadequate. We analyzed the development potential of the existing site (which will be surplus when the new facility is complete) for residential, retail, office, and hotel use. We provided conclusions regarding the optimum development potential and we estimated the proceeds from sale of the site.

Vancouver, BC

For Translink, we evaluated the development potential of a surplus vacant site located adjacent to a new transit station in Vancouver. The land was acquired for station construction and www, but on completion of the station a portion of the site is surplus to future transit requirements. We evaluated the potential for residential, retail, and office use. We provided conclusions regarding the optimum development potential of the site and the likely proceeds from disposition.

Calgary, Alberta

For the City of Calgary, we have conducted several major market studies regarding the future amount and distribution of high density multifamily residential development in the City. These projects have included:

• Forecasting potential residential growth in Downtown, including recommendations for how to increase Downtown’s share of future high density housing development.
• Estimating the share of high density residential development that can be attracted to transit station locations, with implications for the number of transit-oriented development nodes the City should be trying to implement over the next 10 to 20 years.
• Estimating the rate of growth in a central city redevelopment area in which essential major infrastructure upgrading is being funded via tax increment financing.