Bedford Landing in Fort Langley - Mixed-use

Last week, I posted about Bedford Landing and noted that there was still some undeveloped areas on the east side of the project near the main Glover Road business area in Fort Langley. I mused how it seems like this area would be ideal for a mixed-use commercial area. Well I did some digging and found a report on Bedford Landing in the November 1, 2010 Township of Langley Council Minutes.

Perspective of Commercial Space Looking From Riverside Centre Building

On May 17, 2010, Park Lane (the developer of Bedford Land) completed a Commercial Land Study and found that:

Inventory analysis of the existing commercial retail sites in Fort Langley shows a relatively strong retail community; however, there is neither a policy nor a market-based support for commercial development on the remaining Bedford Landing site. The Fort Langley Community Plan states that “new commercial enterprises should be encouraged to locate in the core area. All analysis supports the policy and suggests that additional retail space should be focused on supporting redevelopment opportunities along an already viable commercial spine on Glover Road. Retail development on Glover Road, north of Billy Brown could be viable; however, additional commercial on the Bedford Landing site would suffer from poor exposure, threaten to disperse the commercial traffic from the core and likely experience a combination of high vacancy rates and low rental rates

Live/Work Townhouses

While it looks like traditional retail space was frowned upon, Bedford Landing does have eight live/work units. This unit are actually pretty important because they can allow entrepreneurs and the creative class an affordable place to start up a business.

I know that some people in Fort Langley didn't want to see this development push through, but this development along with the new Fort Langley IGA is giving the area a much needed boost.