810 beds at Surrey’s first student housing tower by 2028
Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, May 20, 2026
A festival-like event celebrated the start of construction of a new tower advertised as Surrey’s first purpose-built student housing development.
Western Community College’s on-campus student housing residence will be built in City Centre 5 at Surrey’s Health and Technology District, near Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Crews have already dug a giant hole for construction of the 23-storey tower, immediately north of City Centre 4. Project partners are ICT Group and Lark Group, with UniLodge Canada contracted to manage 810 beds of post-secondary student housing in 182,000 square feet. Completion is targeted for fall 2028.
City Centre 5 promises “state-of-the-art student accommodation” with a range of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. Features include semi-private bathrooms, communal kitchen and dining areas, fitness centre, gaming room, theatre, study rooms, laundry facilities and indoor/outdoor lounges.
“It’s close to transit, retail shops, dining options, healthcare services and integrated daycare facilities to support both the learning and professional community,” project builders say in a news release.
Western Community College has campuses in City Centre 4 and City Centre 3 buildings, while UBC operates programs in City Centre 1 and has mixed-use plans for an adjacent property. Several blocks away, SFU’s expansion includes a medical school on the former North Surrey rec centre site, near Surrey City Hall.
^^ Site of future student housing is currently a big hole in ground north of WCC’s City Centre 4 tower (Hilton hotel, Stong’s market). Fall 2028 completion. @larkgroupbuilds @SurreyNowLeader #SurreyBC pic.twitter.com/KSqd3Q3ftE
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) May 20, 2026
Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony (May 20), held in a big tent surrounded by food vendors, included comments from Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, Lark Group CEO Kirk Fisher, Western Community College executive Rimpy Dhaliwal, UniLodge Canada’s Mike Porritt and others.
The growing Health and Technology District, planned as an eleven-phase development with nine City Centre buildings, aims to bring together healthcare, education, business and technology organizations.
In City Centre 4, a ribbon-cutting ceremony in April celebrated the opening of Surrey’s newest hotel, Homewood Suites by Hilton Surrey, marketed as an upscale extended-stay hotel with 189 studio and one-bedroom suites with fully equipped kitchens.
A few kilometres south in Newton, provincially-funded student housing will be built at the KPU Surrey campus, with 350 student beds and a dining hall in an eight-storey building budgeted at $144 million. Construction should be complete by 2030, project planners announced in September 2025.