As several Vancouver neighbourhoods look forward to upgraded public spaces, families living in the growing River District are left wondering when construction will finally begin on a long-awaited community centre that was supposed to open last year. River District is a neighbourhood grown over the last couple of decades in southeast Vancouver along the Fraser River, as part of the East Fraser Lands development. The area has seen thousands of condo units built and sold to investors and homebuyers with the promise that River District will be a semi-self-sufficient neighbourhood—filled with retail, dining, and recreational activities and spaces. Among these long-promised amenities is the River District Community Centre, a facility designed and advertised to feature an amphitheatre, significant child-care designated spaces, a public plaza, athletic spaces, and more. Speaking to CTV News, people living in the area said they were told the project would be completed and operational in 2025, but that deadline blew by—replaced by a vague 2027 goalpost without locals seeing a shovel in the ground. Rendered designs depict a multi-storey recreational building and child-care facility making up a community centre plaza. These are planned to be built near the heart of River District. Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s approved vision for the city’s 2027–2030 capital plan includes a $400 million allocation for shared community spaces. According to a city news release, the funding would represent the largest single investment in community centre renewal in Vancouver’s history. The River District community centre, however, was not considered for the capital plan due to a deal the city made with Wesgroup Properties—making the developer responsible for delivering the facility. Long-needed facility Barbara Borschardt told CTV News she has lived in the area for around 35 years, watching the community change and develop around her since long before it was called River District. In 2012, she said, a presentation centre was built at the bottom of Kerr Street. Half of the building was leased to a restaurant called Romer’s, and other parts were used by Wesgroup and various groups for yoga classes, children’s programs, farmers’ markets, and other events — functioning as a “satellite community centre,” according to Borschardt. This filled a gap, she said, as more people began filtering into the area. In 2020, this temporary facility shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic and never returned, leaving a critical gap in the community. Borschardt said she and others living in the area lobbied to bring the space back post-pandemic. “We, the community, wanted our community programs to continue … but the city instead chose to make it an income-producing property, and changed some bylaws,” she said, noting the remainder of the space was leased to Romer’s and used to significantly expand the restaurant. Borschardt was among approximately 460 people who signed an unsuccessful petition urging the city not to proceed with that plan. People living in River District had lost their temporary community space but were told again that a permanent community centre was coming. The urgency of filling this void was recognized in a memo sent to the Vancouver Park Board by then-park board general manager Donnie Rosa on Feb. 2, 2021. “There is increasing pressure to ensure amenities are in place to serve the new residents in EFL as the community builds out. New residents frequently request updates on delivery timelines for parks, child-care spaces, and the community centre, which is a top priority,” Rosa wrote. In the memo, Rosa said there was a $15 million shortfall slowing progress on the community centre and child-care facilities. They noted that, with this shortfall in play, the 2027 target date was now in jeopardy. Passing the buck At a public City of Vancouver hearing on July 12, 2022, Wesgroup Properties requested responsibility for delivering the community centre. The city confirmed this was approved; delivering this facility was no longer their responsibility. Part of the city’s arrangement with Wesgroup would include the Vancouver Park Board running the community centre when it’s fully operational, as it does with other recreational facilities. To help bridge the funding shortfall, concessions were made in this agreement allowing Wesgroup to build taller buildings and increase density within River District. As per the city, Wesgroup was permitted “an additional 41,197 square metres (443,442 square feet) of residential floor area and to increase maximum building heights for social housing, secured market rental housing, strata housing.” In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for Wesgroup said “significant” costs came into play that same year in the form of Metro Vancouver raising development cost charges, “adding approximately $70 million in additional costs to River District” as a whole. “This impacted the financial framework that supports delivery of the community centre. In addition, as design work has progressed, updated estimates have increased the community centre budget from $47 million to approximately $60 million,” reads the statement from Wesgroup Properties. “As a result, the original financial assumptions from 2022 no longer reflect today’s economic conditions, and the current funding framework requires adjustments.” The developer said it continues working with city staff to find ways to close the funding gap, noting that delivering the community centre “relies on maintaining viable projects and continued development at River District, as this activity generates the funding needed to support its construction.” “We remain committed to delivering this important community amenity. To date, over $3 million has been invested, and the project has advanced through a detailed design process and the urban design panel.” A July 2026 statement from the city explained that “Wesgroup has advised the city that it is not financially viable to proceed with the project at this time,” but echoed the developer’s sentiment about remaining committed to delivering the community centre. Frustrations over recognized gaps in the community Borschardt said she and others living in the area feel “ignored, left behind, and forgotten.” “We have this large, growing community and we have nothing. We have no amenities,” she said. “All we are told when we ask questions is, ‘lack of funding.’” “I feel like this community is like Kevin in the movie Home Alone, where everybody goes off and gets all these wonderful things and has a great time, and we’re sort of left behind.” Katherine Hall moved into the neighbourhood in 2020 and runs a community magazine called “River District Living.” She said one of the biggest trends she’s seen is people moving into the area, having a child, noticing the lack of available infrastructure, and then moving away. “I’ve seen it time and time again,” she said. “We see so much potential with the neighbourhood, but these things that we’re doing as a community can only go so far, and the lack of a community centre really is like a bottleneck to the growth of our community.” Hall said people will come to her and say they want to run a workshop or program within the community, and often they give up because they lack a space to do so. Arnie Chang has been living in River District for 15 years and serves as a member of the board of directors up the hill at Killarney Community Centre. He said the facility he works with has “every possible thing” to offer the Killarney community and stressed that a growing community like River District “demands attention.” “The City of Vancouver is responsible, but I think it’s easy for them to turn a blind eye to the River District, saying, ‘Well, that’s Wesgroup, we will let them deal with it,’ and of course Wesgroup is going, ‘Well, that’s the City of Vancouver’s responsibility, so we’ll let them deal with it,’” he explained. “All of a sudden, nothing gets done.” Chang said Wesgroup has made “a lot of promises” to those buying condos and investing in the community. “If those things don’t happen, then obviously people are going to leave,” he said. “I understand that real estate is not where it should be right now, but it shouldn’t stop you from building this community.” Broken promises? When East Fraser Lands was first announced, the city wrote on its website that it would build a “complete community” over 25 years, including: parks, a community centre, schools, childcare facilities, a riverfront walk, and other amenities. So far, one could argue the “other amenities” have been installed in the form of several restaurants, a grocery store, and various retail spaces. With the community centre and childcare facility stalled, and no progress made on bringing a school to the area, the only other fulfilled promise on that list is a riverfront walk. A timeline posted elsewhere on the city’s website marks 2006 as the start of this 25-year period, with the last update coming in 2023 as a “rezoning application.” If they’re following the same timeline, this gives Wesgroup and the city until 2031 to make up for what these River District residents see as shortcomings. For some, that wait may be too long—as Hall said, families keep getting tired of waiting and moving away. With files from Demetra Maragos
