From no-man’s land to vibrant neighbourhood, Canada’s Chilliwack has a new lease on new life

In 1960 the Trans-Canada Highway bypassed the downtown business district of Chilliwack, a small city 100km east of Vancouver – dealing it a near-fatal blow. But now day trippers from the big city craving a taste of small-town life head for District 1881 – 1.5 hectares of land transformed into a bustling micro-neighbourhood of shops, cafés, apartments, offices and a hotel.

The visionaries behind this mixed-use gem in the rural Fraser River valley are three siblings who operate as Algra Bros Developments Ltd. Co-partner Dave Algra says that the area was a no-man’s-land in 2018. “You couldn’t pay someone $20 to park here and walk down the street,” he tells Monocle.

But Dave and his brothers, Phil and Peter, are committed to their native valley. Much of the city’s downtown building stock dates back to the prewar era. With the right design, tenant mix and branding, they were convinced that the city centre could thrive once again.

So Algra Bros persuaded local officials that a mix of building types would have a salutary effect. “To revitalise the downtown, you need thousands of people,” says Dave, describing his pitch that a high street packed with places to shop and have coffee would generate more footfall than residential construction alone. The brothers earned this wisdom over decades that began with them working in construction, then saving enough money to buy land and build homes. Each brother brought a skill set – land assembly from Dave, design from Peter and finance from Phil – and an aggressive growth mindset that leaned on relationships that they had made working on job sites.

In 2010 they won a bid to develop several hundred homes on a former military base and learnt that pedestrian-orientated design – houses with easy access to shops and parks – sold better. Rehabbing old buildings near their office in downtown Abbotsford, 25km from Chilliwack, showed how to make commercial property work in small communities desperate for character – Algra Bros buildings were often leased or sold even before the paint dried. District 1881 is the result of these lessons. Its final building was completed last year and the average commercial rent is 400 per cent higher than when they started eight years ago. “We’re three years ahead of schedule,” says Dave of the return on investment.

And the high street’s thriving businesses concur. Shopkeeper Lily Ellis, who opened Spruce Collective, a shop specialising in locally made wares, says, “I never envisioned Chilliwack as a retail destination.”

The brothers have no interest in franchising. “We’re not efficiency kings,” says Dave. “We like the challenge of creating solutions. It doesn’t seem like many people in our industry behave that way.”
district1881.com