Safeway on Davie Street closing this week for redevelopment

Much of the 1600 block of Davie Street is being cleared for a redevelopment, and that includes the Safeway at the northwest corner of where Davie meets with Cardero Street.

The grocery store will close its doors at 6 pm on August 31 ahead of the building’s planned demolition to make way for a mixed-use development consisting of 21 and 22-storey residential towers with 319 units of market rental units.

Both towers will sit on top of a three-storey podium with space for retail units including a large grocery store, which will become a new space for Safeway when construction is complete.

Drawing of the proposed development at 1661 Davie Street, the location of Safeway. (Henriquez Partners Architects / Westbank)

The BC Liquor store located mid-block, adjacent to Safeway, was closed last week and it is anticipated that it will return to the area by occupying a retail unit in the redevelopment.

On the Bidwell corner of the block, buildings that housed smaller businesses such as Mac’s convenience store and the former space of Bosley’s Pet Food Store have already been demolished.

The redevelopment project, one of several projects in downtown’s West End neighbourhood by local developer Westbank, is designed by Henriquez Partners Architects.

No public hearing or rezoning is required as the project fits within the constraints of the 2013 West End Community Plan, which stipulates that buildings along the Davie Street corridor in that area can reach up to a height of 210 ft.

For the time being, the Safeway at the corner of Robson Street and Denman Street will be the grocery store chain’s only location in downtown Vancouver.

Although the Robson Street location was rebuilt just less than a decade ago, the city-block sized two-storey grocery store building is also set to be demolished due to the redevelopment potential provided by the West End Community Plan. Buildings on this block can now also reach a height of 210 ft.