While low land availability, high growth pressure stations are typically found in downtown cores, and high land availability, low growth pressure stations can be found in suburban and urban fringe communities, stations with high land availability and high growth pressure vary more in their locations. Some are found in older, built-up neighbourhoods on established transit lines, while others are situated in suburban commercial areas or infill developments on new or planned lines.

While varying in their characteristics, these stations have high demand for housing as well as the land capacity to develop it, making them ideal places to build new housing. These high land availability, high growth pressure stations often have existing development plans that recognize their potential. Here are some examples:

Calgary

Chinook station on Calgary’s Red Line is located near the Chinook Centre shopping mall, south of the city’s downtown core. With a large amount of developable land and high-opportunity sites, as well as a relatively high level of growth pressure, the Chinook transit station area has high potential for housing development. Given its high employment density, the area is envisioned to continue developing as a regional employment centre.

Plans for Chinook station’s surrounding area focus on transit-oriented development, creating mixed-use communities integrating walkable, connected public spaces, non-market housing opportunities, and higher growth focused within the transit station area. Preliminary plans for Chinook Centre include Midtown, a proposed development comprising 28 new buildings. The development would create up to 6,200 housing units near the LRT station, with potential for the creation of a new infill station nearby. Chinook station’s high employment density and land availability present an opportunity to further develop a mixed-use community near transit, expanding residential development alongside existing and future commercial development.

Edmonton

NAIT/Blatchford Market station, located near the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), is the current northern terminus of Edmonton’s Metro Line. The station’s high land availability can be attributed to its low population density and relatively high amounts of developable area and high opportunity sites. Paired with its high growth pressure, particularly its relatively high projected population growth, the NAIT/Blatchford Market station area has high potential for housing development.

Located near Edmonton’s former city centre airport, the station’s creation was prompted by plans for the development of the surrounding community of Blatchford. The decommissioned airport land is slated to redevelop into a mixed-use, mid-density urban infill community. Blatchford’s development is integrated with the planned expansion of the NAIT campus, including an Advanced Skills Centre and potential student housing, introducing the potential for shared facilities to serve both communities.

Several hundred housing units in Blatchford have been completed or are under construction, with townhomes, purpose-built rentals, and affordable housing among the types of homes planned for the neighbourhood. Blatchford, intended to be home to up to 30,000 residents upon completion, is expected to be a key example of higher density, transit-oriented infill development in Edmonton’s suburban communities.

Brampton

The Mount Pleasant GO station on the Kitchener line is located in Brampton. The station’s land availability is very high, with low employment density and high levels of single-unit dwellings and developable land. With high past and projected population growth, Mount Pleasant’s potential for housing development is very high.

Located in a Major Transit Station Area (MTSA), Mount Pleasant station’s surrounding area is shaped by the City of Brampton’s MTSA policy framework, which sets targets for mixed-use, higher density development. Early plans for Mount Pleasant Village, the station’s surrounding neighbourhood, aimed to demonstrate transit-oriented greenfield development, centering the new neighbourhood on transit and active transportation.

While the current phase of Mount Pleasant Village incorporates aspects of transit-oriented development to meet these goals, there is continued potential for development in the station area. Proposals for Mount Pleasant include a mixed-use multi-tower development comprising over 2,000 residential units. With new GO stations and their surrounding communities undergoing the planning process, for example Innisfil station on the Barrie line, future growth of Mount Pleasant Village presents an opportunity for the neighbourhood to stand as an model of transit-oriented greenfield development.

Township of Langley

The under-construction Willowbrook station lies on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain Extension of the Expo line. Located in Langley Township, the station will be adjacent to the nearby Willowbrook Shopping Centre. While it does not face extreme growth pressure, its high level of developable land, high opportunity sites, and relatively lower population density lead to a high potential for housing development in the station area.

The area surrounding Willowbrook station is designated a Transit Oriented Area, prioritizing high-density, mixed-use development in the station vicinity. While the Willowbrook Community Plan is currently paused, the opportunity for development in the station area is apparent. Several high-rise towers with a total of up to 2,600 new homes have been proposed near the station. Although plans for the Willowbrook station area are not fixed, the forthcoming completion of the station indicates the need for a transit-oriented approach that will tap into the development potential and support the growth of the Willowbrook community.

Laval

Montmorency station, located in downtown Laval, is the northern terminus of Ligne Orange. It is located near Collège Montmorency and the location of Laval’s future central library and cultural centre. While Montmorency station does not face exceptionally high growth pressure, its relatively high land availability lends itself to high overall development potential.

New developments in the area include U-Bahn, a condo building with over 300 units, and Espace Montmorency, a mixed-use building complex with more than 700 apartments, as well as commercial and office spaces. These new residential projects, along with the continued cultural development of the area, demonstrate the role of transit-oriented development in establishing the Montmorency area and downtown Laval as a whole.

Ottawa

Tunney’s Pasture is a federal employment site west of the city’s downtown core. The Tunney’s Pasture LRT station, located on Ottawa’s Line 1 and future Line 3, serves the government building campus. With high projected population growth and the presence of complete community amenities that serve its federal workforce, the Tunney’s Pasture station area has very high potential for housing development.

The station’s surrounding area is subject to the Tunney’s Pasture Master Plan, an extensive redevelopment project, of which transit-oriented development is a key objective. The project includes plans to reduce office space, increase green space, and introduce 7,000 to 9,000 new housing units in order to urbanize the historically single-use employment centre.

The area already contains several existing high-rises, including a mixed-use two-tower 32-storey complex, a mixed-use 31-storey building, and an 11-storey building near the station. Proposed developments for Tunney’s Pasture include a 40-storey mixed-use high-rise and a six-storey mid-rise, which would create 429 apartment units. These housing developments, along with other community-focused aspects of the Tunney’s Pasture Master Plan, present an opportunity to leverage a transit-oriented approach in transforming the federal office space into a mixed-use, urban neighbourhood.