Coal Harbour

Coal Harbour is the waterfront edge of downtown Vancouver, about 9,900 people, with a median age in the early forties. Most people here rent — fewer than four in ten homes are owner-occupied. What comes up for sale is almost all apartments, a few townhouses, no houses, and two-bedrooms outnumber everything else.

Bus routes 19, 240, 241, 250 and 254 run near the neighbourhood.

Urban Fare at 305 Bute Street is the grocery store, and there's a restaurant inside it. Safeway is a few blocks over at 1766 Robson Street. Coal Harbour Cafe and Cactus Club Cafe are both here when you'd rather someone else cooked.

Devonian Harbour Park has the designated off-leash area: a partly fenced grassy stretch, and it works as the gateway between here and Stanley Park. Coal Harbour Community Centre at 480 Broughton Street has a pool, an ice rink, a fitness centre, a library and a café.

Downtown catchment boundaries have changed, so look up the exact address you're considering on the Vancouver School Board's school locator before you decide anything.