Downtown Vancouver office building to be converted into a hotel

Downtown Vancouver office building to be converted into hotel and restaurant uses

Artistic rendering of the hotel and restaurant at 1144 Burrard Street, Vancouver. (Ciccozzi Architecture/Amacon)

An existing six-storey medical office building immediately across from the existing St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver will be converted into a hotel.

Local developer Amacon has submitted a development permit application to completely renovate Burrard Medical Building at 1144 Burrard Street — located mid-block between Davie and Helmcken streets — into a new hotel.

You might also like:

There would also be an infill expansion on the west side of the building, with 1,300 sq ft of new restaurant space replacing the existing surface vehicle parking stalls on Burrard Street and the ramp into the underground public parking lot. Parking access from the laneway will be retained.

According to the application, the restaurant will offer breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner, and a small outdoor patio will be incorporated into the footprint.

Wentworth Hospitality, the hospitality division of Amacon, will operate the restaurant. Ciccozzi Architecture is the design firm building the renovation for its converted uses.

Site plan of Burrard Medical Building at 1144 Burrard Street, Vancouver. (Ciccozzi Architecture/Amacon)

Existing condition:

Site plan of the hotel and restaurant at 1144 Burrard Street, Vancouver. (Ciccozzi Architecture/Amacon)

Future condition:

Artistic rendering of the hotel and restaurant at 1144 Burrard Street, Vancouver. (Ciccozzi Architecture/Amacon)

Additionally, the first floor of the hotel will offer a public community gallery and gathering area, as a flexible space for events and hosting exhibitions.

The existing entry ramp on the north side of the building will be transformed into a welcoming walkway into the hotel lobby.

The potential number of hotel rooms was not disclosed in the application.

The 27,000 sq ft office building was constructed in 1972.

Site plan of the hotel and restaurant at 1144 Burrard Street, Vancouver. (Ciccozzi Architecture/Amacon)

Artistic rendering of the hotel and restaurant at 1144 Burrard Street, Vancouver. (Ciccozzi Architecture/Amacon)

Artistic rendering of the hotel and restaurant at 1144 Burrard Street, Vancouver. (Ciccozzi Architecture/Amacon)

Artistic rendering of the hotel and restaurant at 1144 Burrard Street, Vancouver. (Ciccozzi Architecture/Amacon)

The conversion of the property likely takes into account the current weak office market and the building’s growing age, making it less competitive with new modern office buildings coming into the market. There will also be significantly less medical office space demand in the immediate area in 2027, when the existing St. Paul’s Hospital closes and relocates to its new and expanded campus in the False Creek Flats.

At the same time, there is immense demand for additional hotel room capacity in downtown Vancouver and the wider Metro Vancouver region, with Destination Vancouver forecasting a growing hotel room shortfall starting in 2026. Over the past decade, downtown Vancouver has shed many hotel rooms to residential conversions and redevelopment, and the pandemic-time acquisition of lower-end hotels by governments for rapid housing for the homeless.

The small boutique-like size of this potential additional hotel property, made possible by a renovation of an existing structure, could make this one of the few new hotel properties that will be ready in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

While Amacon is best known for residential developments, through Wentworth Hospitality, it also owns and operates the 77-room boutique Loden Hotel, French bistro restaurant Tableau, Homer St. Cafe and Bar, and Maxine’s Cafe and Bar.

Amacon also recently began construction on a 120-room hotel as part of a mixed-use condominium tower development at the easternmost end of Robson Street at Beatty Street, across the street from Terry Fox Plaza.

You might also like: