It took well over a decade for Century Group to get shovels into the ground at its Southlands Tsawwassen agricultural community, but the developer is now making steady progress with over 10 per cent of housing being built and new releases coming to market at regular intervals.

The 537-acre community on Boundary Bay in British Columbia's southeast Tsawwassen is planned to contain 950 residential units, plus farmland and commercial properties. It is designed to be constructed in phases over the next eight to 10 years with a strong focus on linking the community to sustainable agriculture.

Southlands Tsawwassen is a study in passion and perseverence for Century Group, which dealt with opposition to the project due to its size and concerns over potential impacts on the area. Development approval was gained in 2013, making it one of Canada’s longest development approval processes.

Though sales started when COVID arrived on the scene, interest was strong and the market picked up.

“With our first release – as much as it could be considered bad timing because it was at the height of COVID . . . the market really picked up for us,” Vanessa Isler, the director of real estate marketing and sales at New Westminster-based Century, said in an interview with RENX Homes.

With the housing market remaining red-hot in B.C., and Southlands Tsawwassen’s unique blend of farming and housing, Century is confident in the long-term vision of a “beach community rooted in farming and food,” despite an uncertain housing market and the long wait.

Housing at Southlands Tsawwassen

After construction was approved in 2013, Century began sales in 2020.

Residences and retail will take up 107 acres of Southlands Tsawwassen, with housing ranging from single-family homes, bare-land strata single-family homes, non-strata row homes, traditional townhomes and condos (referred to as flats by Century).

Housing will run the spectrum from one- to four-bedroom units. Isler said condos will range from one to two bedrooms, while single-family homes will vary from two- to four-bedroom options.

As of mid-October, 120 homes have been closed with approximately 100 under construction.

Isler emphasized the unconventional nature of Southlands Tsawwassen, saying it diverges from a typical suburban development: “We have all these little residential pockets where each pocket could be 10 to 25 homes, all these little types . . .  Each little pocket is very unique and could be different ownership structures.”

Phases at Southlands Tsawwassen are given names like High Street Flats or Market Mews based on its distinct housing offering.

Currently, Century is selling units at two sites: The Granary, comprised of 16 one-bedroom garden flats and 19 two- to three-bedroom townhomes next to the Market District; and Ridge Lane Estate Cottages, made up of 12 detached single-family homes.

Six other phases are sold out, including District Flats with 34 one- and two-bedroom homes.

Units at The Granary start at $674,900 for one-bedroom flats, $949,900 for two-bedroom townhomes, and $1,179,900 for three-bedroom townhomes.

The final home at Ridge Lane Estate Cottages is priced at $1.749 million.

Most buyers have been downsizers from the area looking for a new townhouse, cottage or condo, Isler said. Some are young families from Vancouver seeking more affordable housing with proximity to the city.

Residents will be a few blocks away from Boundary Bay and Centennial Beach, and less than a kilometre from the Canada-U.S. border.

Sustainable farming

Inspired by the family of Century’s president Sean Hodgins, Southlands Tsawwassen will cultivate community farming on 275 acres of land named Southlands Farm, and a 50-acre artisanal organic farm, complemented with a Market District as a social and commercial hub.

Non-arable land was turned into productive farmland through a stormwater management and filtration system. The farmland was handed over to the City of Delta so local farmers can maintain it.

For Century and Hodgins, the sentiment was “a lot of us had lost the connection with farms and growing food . . . there’s just fewer and fewer connections in life to where food comes from.”

Farm markets will be held throughout the summer at the Market District, along with demonstration gardens, public art installations and farm-to-table restaurants.

Century’s other developments

In addition to Southlands Tsawwassen, Century is developing the Century City Holland Park master-planned community in downtown Surrey, which Isler said is over 70 per cent sold. There are plans to launch a rental component in January 2024, with the intent of having four towers at full build-out.

Century has also acquired land in Maillardville, a community in Coquitlam, which is also planned as a future high-rise site.