$165M federal loan adds 342 rentals to Port Moody's Inlet District

Port Moody's largest-ever development just got more secure, and more rental-focused. A $165-million low-interest loan from the federal government will help build 342 new rental homes at the Inlet District, the master-planned community rising at Ioco Road and Barnet Highway, and will keep the project's first phase on schedule, according to the developer.

From strata to rentals

Wesgroup's director of development, Kaylen Blomkamp, said the federal financing allows the company to convert the project's second 26-storey tower, already under construction along Ioco Road, from strata condos to rental units. Pre-selling those units in the current housing climate could have been challenging, she said, and might have set the whole development back four to five years.

"It would have slowed the master plan," Blomkamp said.

Beyond the tower, more rental units will come in an eight-storey building originally designated as six floors of office space. Port Moody council approved amendments to its development agreement with Wesgroup last September in anticipation of the new rental component. A separate application to boost the project's density by 375,467 square feet, driven by market conditions and a $30.3-million increase to Metro Vancouver development cost charges, remains under review by city staff.

Political reaction

Mayor Meghan Lahti called locking in the rental homes "an important milestone for our city," adding, "There were a lot of skeptical people believing it wouldn't happen." She said she is especially pleased that 86 studio and one-bedroom apartments will be offered at below-market rates for 20 years, noting housing affordability "remains one of the great challenges of our region."

Port Moody-Coquitlam MP Zoe Royer, who delivered the funding news at an announcement overlooking the construction site, said the homes will give people "stability, security and opportunities," and praised the location directly across from the Inlet Centre SkyTrain station: "People will have real choices to get everything they need in their lives without the cost of owning a car."

What the Inlet District will be

When complete over five phases in the next 25 years, the 14.8-acre Inlet District will be Port Moody's largest single development project, home to more than 5,500 residents. Under current approvals it will comprise six residential towers up to 31 storeys, four low-rise residential buildings, office space, a grocery store, two daycares, 27,000 square feet of civic amenity space, a 2.5-acre central park, and a pedestrian overpass connecting to the Inlet Centre SkyTrain station.

The development will have no surface streets: all parking and vehicle access to buildings will be underground. The first phase, which includes the grocery store and one daycare, is expected to be completed in 2029.

A fraught road to construction

The project, a redevelopment of the old Coronation Park neighbourhood, has been years in the making. Wesgroup submitted its pre-application in 2020, three years after council adopted a densification plan for the area, and the path to shovels in the ground last December included stand-offs and ultimatums, including a 2022 declaration from a Wesgroup official that the company was "simply out of time" as it pushed to finalize the acquisition of 59 aging mid-century homes on the site.

Why rentals, and why now

The conversion of the second tower from strata to rental reflects a broader shift in the region's housing market. Presale condo demand has cooled across Metro Vancouver, while purpose-built rental has become the favoured product for both builders and governments, supported by federal financing tools like the low-interest loan behind this deal. For Wesgroup, the federal money de-risks a project that carries enormous upfront infrastructure costs; for Port Moody, it trades uncertain future condos for guaranteed rental supply, including the below-market component, decades before the market alone would have delivered it.

The location is the argument for density here. Inlet District rises directly across from the Inlet Centre SkyTrain station on the Evergreen Line, putting residents one stop from Coquitlam Centre and a direct ride from Burquitlam, Port Moody Centre, and downtown Vancouver. The planned pedestrian overpass will link the community to the station without crossing the highway at grade.

What residents should watch next

Two things will shape the project from here. The city's review of Wesgroup's application to add 375,467 square feet of density will determine the community's final scale, and the pace of construction on the first phase, now anchored by the federal loan, sets the clock for the 2029 opening of the first homes, the grocery store, and the daycare. For a city that has debated this site since 2020, the conversion of the second tower to rentals is the strongest signal yet that the Inlet District will be built as promised.

* Cover photo: Northwest, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0