admin As college and university students return to campus, a Vancouver private college owner-turned-developer is about to break ground on a massive new education campus center that will be the first of its kind in North America.
Details on the New Venture
The 49-storey tower will combine residences for hundreds of students and teachers on top of five to 12 schools of various disciplines situated on the building’s lower floors. The $270-million skyscraper will also include administrative offices for the schools, a wellness center, a food court and student support services such as travel agents, a job placement center, and international-student immigration consultants, to name a few.
GEC Education Mega Centre will rise amid the dense, Surrey City Centre Skytrain community, already home to more than a dozen postsecondary schools, including campuses for Simon Fraser University, Douglas College and Kwantlen Polytechnic University. The Mega Centre’s 383 rental units will be available to students attending any school – not just to those who will simply take an elevator from home down to class.
A New Beginning
Amalgamating multiple schools, student housing, offices and retail in one building “will completely differentiate GEC from any student-housing providers worldwide,” says Toby Chu, president and chief executive officer of CIBT Education Group, which owns five schools, including Sprott Shaw College’s 24 campuses, and seven student residencies under the company’s GEC brand.
The CEG Mega Education Centre in Surrey is expected to be completed by 2025. “The student-housing business is residential only. Our Education Mega Centre is much more: It’s an integrated hub for education and affordable living,” says Mr. Chu, whose company operates language, health care and business colleges.
“I would say 99.9 per cent of off-campus student-housing operators around the world come from the real estate or finance sectors,” he adds. Metro Vancouver counts just 13 public universities and colleges, but more than 1,500 private institutions –“all fragmented and spread out,” Mr. Chu says. By bringing public, private, ESL and career-oriented schools together to share facilities – computer lab, library and food services – the Mega Centre allows schools to substantially reduce operating costs, Mr. Chu says.
Cybercity
The model’s one-stop solution for the academic community is also being developed in Richmond, B.C., where GEC Cybercity and GEC Education Super Centre are in permitting stages. Cybercity will be tech-focused, with schools for animation, software design and more, offices for Vancouver’s booming tech industry, and a micro-suite hotel. Just blocks away, the Super Centre will feature two towers, one for schools and offices, the other for student housing.
GEC is also building an 18-storey residency-only tower at the massive Oakridge Centre redevelopment. In total, these four developments will add 2,200 beds to GEC’s current 1,500-bed portfolio, making it Canada’s leading education real estate company, Mr. Chu says.
Magazine 
