Metro Vancouver is set to gain a new major infusion of capacity for purpose-built health care services specifically for treating people with substance addiction issues.
A new 10-storey addictions treatment hospital building is planned for the southern end of Surrey City Centre, located on a 22,000 sq. ft. lot at the southeast corner of the intersection of 97A Avenue and 137A Street within Lark Group’s growing City Centre District campus of office, research, health, institutional, and student housing buildings.
The site is strategically about two blocks north of Surrey Memorial Hospital, and roughly a 10-minute walk south of SkyTrain’s King George Station. The structures previously on the site were recently demolished to serve as a temporary construction staging and storage area for nearby tower projects.
According to a new City of Surrey staff report, the 83,000 sq. ft. facility for the site of 9690-9712 137A St. and 9699 137B St. is dedicated to both substance-use treatment and recovery.
Site of the substance addiction treatment hospital at 9712 137A St. and 9699 137B St., Surrey. (DYS Architecture/Lark Group)
Site of the substance addiction treatment hospital at 9712 137A St. and 9699 137B St., Surrey. (DYS Architecture/Lark Group)
This building will provide a range of medical, health care, and community services, including both outpatient and short-term overnight stays of up to roughly five days. There will be a comprehensive care facility, hospital, and medical office, with the ability to have operations be regulated under the provincial Hospital Act.
The project is intended to not only improve continuity of care and expand treatment and recovery services capacity, but also reduce pressure on Surrey Memorial Hospital by freeing up acute-care beds. The building is also designed for future expansion.
Given the major staffing needs of such a facility, there will be about 100 vehicle parking stalls within the underground levels.
After Lark Group completes the building, the facility will be owned and operated by Fraser Health Authority. It is, of course, also a response to B.C.’s immense mental health and substance addiction crisis.
Lark Group also previously built similar institutional uses to the north within Surrey City Centre. In 2023, it completed the first mixed-use tower of Legion Veterans Village, which provides a specialized hub for mental health and addictions clinics and services specifically for veterans of the Canadian Forces.
Concept of the substance addiction treatment hospital at 9712 137A St. and 9699 137B St., Surrey. (DYS Architecture/Lark Group)
Concept of the substance addiction treatment hospital at 9712 137A St. and 9699 137B St., Surrey. (DYS Architecture/Lark Group)
Concept of the substance addiction treatment hospital at 9712 137A St. and 9699 137B St., Surrey. (DYS Architecture/Lark Group)
Concept of the substance addiction treatment hospital at 9712 137A St. and 9699 137B St., Surrey. (DYS Architecture/Lark Group)
This project will be a welcome relief for Surrey Memorial Hospital, which is currently highly constrained and frequently operating above capacity due to Surrey’s rapid population growth and the broader system-wide pressures in B.C.’s health-care system. Emergency department crowding, limited inpatient beds, and staffing strain have been ongoing challenges for this hospital.
In 2024, the provincial government announced it would provide Surrey Memorial Hospital with a new additional acute and specialized care tower, including medical, surgical, pediatric, perinatal, women’s health, mental health and stroke care. No firm timeline has been established for this major expansion project.
Construction on the $2.9-billion new Cloverdale hospital — Surrey’s second hospital — is expected to reach completion in 2030, at which point it will provide the South of Fraser areas with a major boost in acute, emergency, and cancer treatment capacity.
Lark Group’s first three City Centre District buildings constructed in the area have a combined total area of over 500,000 sq. ft. of office space.
Subsequent buildings in City Centre District will see more varied uses, due in part to the office market’s weakness. The 25-storey City Centre 4 tower — originally planned as an office tower — reached completion in late 2025, containing a 189-room Hilton Homewood Suites within the upper levels of the building (opening in Spring 2026). There is also space for Western Community College, Valley Surgical, Fraser Health Authority, and a childcare facility within the lower levels. Additionally, City Centre 4 has a retail/restaurant space component within the ground level, with Strong’s Market grocery store opening last fall.
City Centre 4 tower at Lark Group’s City Centre District. (Lark Group)
City Centre 4 tower at Lark Group’s City Centre District. (Lark Group)
Additionally, the new 24-storey City Centre 5 tower, also previously slated to be office space, will be turned into 500 beds of student housing in partnership with Western Community College. It is slated to reach completion in 2028.
Fraser Health Authority’s 10-storey addictions treatment building is considered to be City Centre 6.
Just north of Lark Group’s City Centre District campus area, closer to the SkyTrain station, a separate entity is planning to build a 44-storey, mixed-use hotel and rental housing tower, with a 266-room hotel within the lower levels and 180 secured purpose-built market rental homes within the upper levels.