Multiplex development in Newton, Surrey

Newton Town Centre is the 61-hectare (151-acre) area the City of Surrey plans around King George Boulevard, bounded by 72 Avenue to the north, 138 Street to the east, 68 Avenue to the south, and 134 Street, 70B Avenue and 135 Street to the west. Council adopted the current Newton Town Centre Plan on July 13, 2020, to guide growth there for the next 30 years. It updates a plan first approved in 1990, and its land use designations are now part of Surrey's Official Community Plan.

The City's plan summary puts the tallest buildings next to a future rapid transit station on King George Boulevard: 21 to 25 storeys in the core, 4 to 20 storeys in the transition areas around it, and 1 to 4 storeys in the lower density areas in the south of the town centre. Townhouse sites are designated for buildings up to 15 m (50 ft) high and a floor area ratio of up to 1.0, or 1.30 for stacked townhouses. (Floor area ratio is the building's floor area divided by the lot area.) Low-rise sites allow up to 4 storeys along 134 Street, 70B Avenue, 135 Street and 68 Avenue, up to 6 storeys elsewhere, and a ratio of up to 2.5. The City can allow more height and density where a project provides more community benefit.

Transit today is the R1 RapidBus and the Newton Exchange. The plan shows rapid transit on King George Boulevard linking City Centre to Newton Town Centre, and it says the route and the station location still need planning work with TransLink. The City also expects new building to start slowly, and says it may take an investment such as rapid transit to start it.

For a lot inside the plan area, the designation on the plan map shows what the City will encourage over time, which is the starting point for a rezoning. A developer who rezones there must pay contributions toward community facilities such as community centres, childcare and libraries, and must upgrade sidewalks and other public works. Without a rezoning, a lot in one of Surrey's small-scale housing zones, adopted July 8, 2024, can hold up to 3 homes if it is smaller than 280 m², up to 4 if it is larger, and up to 6 if it is at least 281 m² and within 400 m of a bus stop with 15-minute service. Our Surrey multiplex page covers those zones, and our post on how a frequent bus stop changes the home count covers the six-home rule. The City asks anyone who wants to develop or rezone to start with a pre-application meeting.

On a Newton lot we check both answers before any design work: the designation on the plan map and the number of homes the current zone allows. The photos below are from Cawston Avenue in Kelowna, where one single-family lot became four three-bedroom townhomes with rooftop decks, completed in January 2020. We read the City pages linked in this section on November 4, 2026.

The City of Surrey and TransLink unveiled a master development plan for Newton Town Centre covering roughly 40 acres, 35 owned by the city and five by TransLink, along King George Boulevard near 72 Avenue. The plan calls for more than 2,200 residential units housing about 4,000 residents, more than 150,000 square feet of retail, a new city-funded community centre, and 15.7 acres of parks. It builds on the Newton Centre Plan adopted in 2020 and is designed around a proposed King George Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit route with a station nearby. Early works are expected to begin in mid-2026, with the community centre targeted for 2030.

That plan applies to city and TransLink land at the civic core itself, it is not the zoning that governs a private single-family lot elsewhere in Newton. Those lots already fall under Surrey's SSMUH zones, RA and R1 through R6, which took effect July 8, 2024 and set unit counts independently of the town centre redevelopment.

Newton is Surrey's largest population base, and the city and TransLink are putting real capital into its town centre. For a homeowner on a single-family lot nearby, that investment is a demand signal, more retail, a rebuilt community centre, and a planned BRT line all point to a neighbourhood the city is actively strengthening, but it doesn't change your unit count. That's set by your lot's SSMUH zone and its distance to a Frequent Bus Stop Area today.

A multiplex is still a real construction project regardless of what's happening a few blocks away. We confirm your specific zone and unit allowance, then carry design, permitting, financing, and construction while you contribute the land through a written GP/LP partnership.

King George Boulevard runs the length of Newton and already carries some of Surrey's highest transit ridership outside the SkyTrain corridors, which is part of why it was chosen for the planned Bus Rapid Transit route. Lots along or near the boulevard are the ones most likely to already sit inside a Frequent Bus Stop Area and qualify for Surrey's six-unit allowance, while the residential streets further from the boulevard, further into Newton's interior, more often land at the standard three to four units.

That distinction matters for feasibility. Two lots a few blocks apart in Newton can carry meaningfully different unit counts purely based on their measured distance to a qualifying stop, so the first real answer for any Newton property comes from checking the address, not assuming based on the neighbourhood's overall transit reputation.