Strengthening Metro Vancouver’s Regional Economy
The area between UBC and Commercial Drive is a busy and thriving Metro Vancouver employment, housing and transit hub. Broadway to UBC: Strengthening Metro Vancouver’s Regional Economy, a joint City of Vancouver – UBC study completed by KPMG, explores what makes this area so successful, puts numbers to jobs, housing, and transit connectivity and how it all adds up for the region. The study suggests congestion and poor transit connectivity are stopping this area of Metro Vancouver from achieving its full economic potential and fully contributing to regional economic growth.
Major Employment Centre
The Broadway Corridor has more jobs than any regional centre other than downtown Vancouver with a concentration of jobs in highly desirable and leading industries.
100,000 jobs
1 in 10 of all Metro Vancouver jobs are along Broadway
10,000 businesses
The Broadway Corridor has a high concentration of employment in health, technology and education
Economic Powerhouse for Metro Vancouver
The Broadway area between Commercial Drive and UBC is a key economic driver for Metro Vancouver, home to the region’s most significant concentration of healthcare, research, and tech organizations, and a major residential population hub.
$1 in $10 of Metro Vancouver’s GDP
Activity along Broadway accounts for 8-10% of the region’s economic activity
$15.5 billion in direct economic output
Generated by a vibrant business community providing a wide range of goods and services
The Broadway Ecosystem
The Broadway Corridor is uniquely placed within Metro Vancouver’s regional economy – housing the leading academic and research capabilities of UBC, key health and research clusters like the Oak-Cambie Healthcare Precinct and the growing Mount Pleasant technology hub, all with links to the downtown core, Vancouver International Airport, and growing economic centres across the region.
Five post-secondary institutions
65,000 students training in medicine/health, sciences, applied sciences, business and tech
Three major hospitals
Vancouver General Hospital, UBC Hospital, Mount Saint Joseph
Housing Hub
The entire length of Broadway is a major residential population hub. The Corridor’s population is similar to that of downtown Vancouver and is significantly higher than any other regional centre in Metro Vancouver.
68,000 homes + 12,000 student beds
Account for 7% of the region’s housing supply
20% of the region’s rental housing
More than 1/3 of Broadway Corridor homes are rental, including non-market rentals
Challenges and Opportunities
The Broadway Corridor has challenges. Traffic congestion and transit overcrowding is a particular problem, impacting workforce productivity and limiting the contribution the area can make to regional economic growth.
SkyTrain to UBC is the transit solution that will address the Corridor’s connectivity challenges. Better transit connectivity along the Corridor, and with the rest of the region, will enable the Broadway Corridor to build on its strength as a hub for healthcare, life sciences, education and tech and further enhance its ability to contribute to the regional economy.
To learn more, download the full report.