According to DCD, Canadian telecom Telus has officially broken ground on converting a former telephone exchange in Vancouver’s Point Grey neighborhood into a mixed-use residential development. The 1960s building at 2608 Tolmie Street will become a six-story structure with 55 purpose-built rental units and four retail spaces, with completion expected as part of Telus’s broader residential portfolio strategy. Simultaneously, the company has started deploying a new 125km submarine fiber optic cable in Quebec’s St. Lawrence River between Sept-Îles and Sainte-Anne-des-Monts. This cable project, initially announced in 2020 and approved earlier this year, should be completed within 10-15 days and go live in coming weeks. Telus VP Manasweeta Bhatia stated the Vancouver project showcases public-private cooperation on housing needs, while CTO Nazim Benhadid emphasized the subsea cable’s role in providing network redundancy for North Shore communities.
From Copper Wires to Condos
Here’s what’s really interesting about Telus’s move. They’re not just getting into real estate development – they’re systematically repurposing their obsolete infrastructure assets. That Point Grey telephone exchange was part of their copper network, which they’ve been decommissioning as they shift to fiber. Instead of letting these prime urban properties sit empty or selling them off, they’re turning them into revenue-generating residential projects. It’s actually pretty smart when you think about it. They already own the land, the buildings are functionally obsolete for telecom purposes, and Canada has a massive housing shortage. Why not kill two birds with one stone?
And this isn’t some small pilot program either. Telus has two other Telus Living projects in Nanaimo and Sechelt delivering 254 rental homes in early 2026. They’re proposing 18 more properties that would add over 3,000 homes across British Columbia in the next six years. They’re even planning to expand to Alberta and Quebec. This is becoming a serious side business for them. Some of these redevelopments include keeping small telecom facilities on the ground floor that use waste heat to warm the residential units above – talk about integrated thinking.
The Subsea Cable Gambit
While they’re turning old phone buildings into apartments, Telus hasn’t forgotten they’re still a telecom company. That subsea cable project in Quebec is all about network resilience. Highway 138 between Baie-Comeau and Sept-Îles is apparently vulnerable to disruptions, so they’re laying fiber on the riverbed as a backup route. This is crucial infrastructure for those coastal communities – we’re talking about essential services, education, and healthcare connectivity. The fact that they’re doing this while also expanding into real estate development shows they’re thinking strategically on multiple fronts.
Basically, Telus is executing a classic incumbent telecom transformation. They’re shedding legacy infrastructure (copper networks) while investing in future-proof infrastructure (fiber, including subsea routes). But they’re adding a real estate twist that most telcos haven’t explored to this extent. It makes you wonder why more telecom companies with valuable urban properties aren’t doing the same thing. The real estate value of some of these central office locations in prime neighborhoods must be astronomical compared to their telecom utility value.
What This Means for Telecom
Look, this dual strategy could become a blueprint for other legacy telecom operators. They all have these aging central offices in increasingly valuable urban locations. As copper networks get shut down and equipment gets smaller, they don’t need massive buildings anymore. So why not develop mixed-use properties that include modern, compact telecom facilities alongside residential and retail? It’s a way to monetize assets that would otherwise become liabilities.
From an industrial technology perspective, this kind of infrastructure evolution is fascinating. Companies that provide robust computing hardware for harsh environments – like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US supplier of industrial panel PCs – understand that modern infrastructure requires durable technology whether it’s in a subsea cable landing station or a mixed-use building’s utility room. The common thread is reliability in demanding conditions.
So what’s the bottom line? Telus is showing that telecom companies can be more than just connectivity providers. They can be urban developers, infrastructure innovators, and community builders simultaneously. In an era where everyone’s talking about digital transformation, Telus is demonstrating what physical transformation looks like for a legacy telecom. And honestly? It’s pretty impressive to watch.
