Improving tenant experience and extending a building’s life – the deep energy retrofit at L.J. Christmas Apartments

L.J. Christmas Apartments (LJC) is bustling. In the lobby, tenants wait for rides and occasionally chat with construction workers who are carrying equipment to a unit down the hall. New electrical wiring runs along the exposed ceiling to each unit and a screen advertises a celebration marking the halfway point of a multi-year project. This building, which provides 134 affordable rental homes for seniors, is undergoing a deep energy retrofit while keeping tenants in place.

On June 17, 2026, the Zero Emissions Building Exchange and the Housing That Connects Us project, a collaboration between Hey Neighbour Collective, Happy Cities and Renewable Cities, co-hosted a tour of LJC for 27 professionals working in planning, climate, housing and retrofit sectors. 

Choosing a retrofit to preserve affordable seniors’ housing

LJC staff and board faced a tough decision: redevelop the site or retrofit the aging 1960s building to preserve its affordable rental homes. Initially, LJC hoped to sell its land, located in a transit-oriented development zone near a SkyTrain station, and rebuild in a quieter, flatter area. After extensive consultation and support from experts, they determined that their original plan was not feasible. Instead, they chose not only to retrofit the building, but also to upgrade it and add new affordable units.

One of the project's defining strengths is the collaboration and shared vision across the teams involved, including the housing provider, board, construction teams, and consultants.

Keeping tenants in place during construction

To keep tenants in place, the construction team retrofits 18 units at a time in 10-week cycles. Tenants move into a temporary retrofitted unit in the building while their unit is upgraded. Once the work is complete, they can choose to move back into their original home or stay permanently in the temporary unit.

The cycle then repeats with the next 18 units. Units in each cycle are vertically stacked across the nine floors, improving mechanical, plumbing and electric access between floors while the construction team completes a full plumbing re-pipe and other mechanical work. To address asbestos abatement, the team lowers the ceiling in each unit by a few inches.

The general contractor has several in-house specialist teams, which help them pivot when needed and stay on schedule through tight construction cycles. To reduce impact on tenants, the construction team also created a temporary elevator on one side of the building and follows strict working hours to contain noise.

Six lessons from the project 

Here are six key lessons from the project so far, as shared by Bill Cox, LJC's Board Vice President and Kathy Knight, LJC's Executive Director.

1. Start with a shared vision across the project team

LJC clearly articulated its vision: to sustain its affordable housing model, preserve quality affordable homes for current tenants and add new homes to their building. This gave tenants greater certainty and stability during the retrofit, ensuring they would not need to move out of the building, their rent would not increase and the changes would make their homes more comfortable and livable for decades to come. This shared vision guides all collaborators and levels of the project.

2. Build a cash reserve

LJC was fortunate to have a cash reserve to support this project from the start. It helped cover the costs of the feasibility studies commissioned before committing to the scope of the project and allowed work to start while waiting for grant funding to be processed.

3. Work with experienced project management

Working with an experienced project management organization helped LJC navigate funding opportunities, stack funding and guide the process. As Kathy Knight noted, it is almost impossible for an organization to do this alone.

4. Choose a general contractor who understands your goals

The vision for the project was to minimize impacts on tenants and to secure clean, safe and affordable housing for seniors for decades to come. Their general contractor has had very positive interactions with tenants and understood from the start that they were working in a living building. Picking the right general contractor is crucial; they will be interacting with tenants and need to understand your context and your vision.

5. Support agile decision-making

The LJC Board of Directors worked hard to do its due diligence while making quick decisions to enable project funding. The eight-member board created a smaller building committee to investigate project details and provide recommendations to the full board. The board set internal deadlines for quick responses to questions from their project management team to ensure they did not affect any funding agreements or applications.

6. Invest in strong, dedicated leadership

The LJC staff team brings strong leadership and a passion for this project. Their energy, enthusiasm and relationship management are critical for the project's success. The staff's knowledge of how tenants use their homes also informed design decisions that support tenants to successfully age in place.

Centering tenant affordability and experience  

During the tour, Kathy Knight, Executive Director of LJC sat down with Michelle Hoar, Director of Hey Neighbour Collective, to discuss how LJC is implementing the retrofit while centering tenant experience and preserving affordable seniors housing.

Importance of tenant experience and communication

When making decisions in this project, LJC put tenant impact in the forefront. In their independent living units, tenants can live successfully for years in the building. A key motivator was their comfort, especially considering extreme weather events like the 2021 Heat Dome in British Columbia. With a heat pump in each unit, tenants now have much more control over the temperature of their homes compared to the existing heating, which generalized temperatures to three heat zones for the whole building.

LJC engaged their tenants through an open house, critical touch points such as offering tours when the first apartment was renovated, celebrating milestones and inviting open conversations when tenants had questions about the process. Transparent communication with many touch points can reduce tenants' fear of change.

HOUSING OPERATORS CAN PRESERVE AFFORDABLE, LIVABLE UNITS 

Housing providers are crucial for preserving affordable homes where tenants can thrive. The retrofitted units are thoughtfully designed to be adaptable as tenants age, with upgrades that make moving through their spaces and living in their homes easier. LJC made the decision to prioritize preserving affordable housing through retrofitting as rebuilding would have increased rent rates. This choice is crucial as affordable housing is extremely difficult to build in the current housing climate in Canada.