It’s an ambitious project with a huge community purpose, and for more than 100 Langley residents, it’s home.

The Aspire apartment building, at 5068 221A Street, began as an ambitious project to transform a vacant lot across from the hospital campus. Soon after it first opened its doors in summer 2023, it evolved into a community of friends and neighbours who organize carpools, hold pot lucks and gather to watch hockey games.

For Langley donors, partners and the broader community, Aspire can be seen as a milestone. For its tenants, it’s about living in comfort, but with a bonus: designed for adults aged 55 and older, it’s run as a non-for-profit entity and will expand revenues and build long-term financial stability for Langley’s health care.

From Vision to Homecoming

The vision that led to Aspire took shape after the Langley Community Health & Hospital Foundation’s Board of Directors commissioned a “best use study” to explore the potential of the lot across from Langley Memorial Hospital. 

The conclusion: developing market rental units with some subsidized spaces would benefit the Foundation in its mission to foster the growth of hospital and community health services. 

By spring 2024, more than 80 per cent of the units were fully occupied. Aspire’s design incorporates adaptable units for seniors and people with mobility challenges with 30 per cent of the units priced below market rates. That inclusivity ensures seniors can age in place, with consistent access to affordable housing.

While the Foundation’s current board put the plan in motion, outgoing Board Chair Michael Leggatt gives full credit to former Board Chair Rick McMullan, who served from 2008 to 2017.  

“I remember him very clearly on his departing day saying, ‘It's my vision that something happened with this land; the Foundation needs to turn its attention to it because it's idle,’” recalls Leggatt.

The Murrayville Limited Partnership
L-R: Ryan O’Shea, Peter Fassbender, Vivian Smith, Nolan Clark, Balraj Mann, Michael Leggatt

The Board of Directors settled on three pillars in their strategic plan to guide the Foundation in every initiative: advocacy, partnerships and financial diversity.

The directors then created a limited partnership, consisting of Board members Michael Leggatt, Nolan Clark, Ryan O’Shea, Peter Fassbender and Balraj Mann and former Foundation Executive Director Vivian Smith.

The limited partnership was vital to the Board’s goal of maintaining a charitable status, managing risk and creating a layer of separation between the Foundation and the Aspire development.
With that safeguard in place, the work to build Aspire from the ground up, finally began, and the first residents moved in summer of 2023.

Importantly, the project underscores its role as an advocate for donor interests by integrating community-focused elements into its design.

For instance,  the unique shape of the building, as viewed from the back, resembles an  L, allowing a small shaded garden to occupy space behind the building : “This intentional design shows respect to the neighbours to the south,” he says. “That’s important to our donors. We ultimately delivered on a desire to respect the environment, and to support the needs of the community as it grows.”