Expanded concept for future Victory Square office tower in downtown Vancouver

2023 artistic rendering of a revised concept for the office tower at 534-550 Cambie Street expanded onto the parkade site at 150 West Pender Street, Vancouver. (PC Urban/Quadreal Property Group)

Could a plan to build an office tower near Victory Square in downtown Vancouver grow exponentially in size at some point in the future?

In late 2021, Vancouver City Council approved a rezoning application to enable the redevelopment of the mid-block site of 534-550 Cambie Street into a 22-storey calibre office tower with 263,000 sq ft of total building floor area. With the site situated adjacent to SkyTrain Stadium-Chinatown Station, this is considered a prime location for transit-oriented development.

This project is a joint venture between PC Urban and Quadreal Property Group, which owns the nearby The Post building with Amazon as its sole office tenant.

You might also like:

Shortly after, in 2023, the partnership created a potential revised redevelopment concept that explored growing the development site’s footprint northwards on the 1.2-acre public parkade at 150 West Pender Street, which is kitty-corner to Victory Square.

This potential revised concept quadrupled the development site’s land area, and grew the total building floor area by more than two and half times larger to 675,000 sq ft.

Existing site of the parkade:

150 west pender street 534-550 cambie street vancouver office expanded concept 2023

Site of the parkade at 150 West Pender Street, adjacent to the original main project site of 534-550 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

2021 approved concept adjacent to the parkade:

2021 approved concept: Artistic rendering of 534-550 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Quadreal Property Group/PC Urban)

2023 expanded concept replacing the parkade:

2023 artistic rendering of a revised concept for the office tower at 534-550 Cambie Street expanded onto the parkade site at 150 West Pender Street, Vancouver. (PC Urban/Quadreal Property Group)

Revised artistic renderings of this alternative concept show an overhauled main tower design at the original project footprint of 534-550 Cambie Street, which then gradually seamlessly transitions northwards to a terraced mid-rise office building podium fronting West Pender Street — descending from 10 storeys abutting the tower to six storeys next to the street.

It was stated that this terraced mid-rise office base podium on the footprint of the parkade respected building shadowing considerations of Victory Square, and like the original project design it retained the heritage facade of the mid-block, 1925-built, two-storey, Cleland-Kent warehouse building.

The expanded project incorporated not only significant Class A-calibre office space and ample amenities for office workers, but also childcare facilities and additional ground-level retail/restaurant uses beyond the original concept.

Existing site of the parkade:

Site of the parkade at 150 West Pender Street, adjacent to the original main project site of 534-550 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

2021 approved concept adjacent to the parkade:

2021 approved concept: Artistic rendering of 534-550 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Quadreal Property Group/PC Urban)

2023 expanded concept replacing the parkade:

2023 artistic rendering of a revised concept for the office tower at 534-550 Cambie Street expanded onto the parkade site at 150 West Pender Street, Vancouver. (PC Urban/Quadreal Property Group)

This expanded concept would also require the closure and acquisition of the laneway that divides the block, which currently separates the parkade site of 150 West Pender Street and the original main project site of 534-550 Cambie Street.

As of last year, this expanded office redevelopment concept had a total project budget value of nearly $900 million, based on a targeted 2028 completion.

However, a spokesperson for PC Urban told Daily Hive Urbanized that while it has looked at the option of exploring a considerably larger office redevelopment, it has not acquired the parkade. Moreover, the office project is currently on hold.

2021 approved concept: Artistic rendering of 534-550 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Quadreal Property Group/PC Urban)

Market demand for office space has of course slowed down, with CBRE’s latest marketplace update indicating downtown Vancouver’s office vacancy rate reached 11% in the third quarter of 2023, which is an improvement from 11.8% in the third quarter of 2023. In contrast, in late 2021, when the project was first approved, the office vacancy rate was at 7.2%. But the 11% office vacancy rate as of the end of 2024 is still relatively strong and represents the lowest office vacancy rate for a major downtown area in Canada and the United States.

Downtown Vancouver’s pre-pandemic office building boom will come to an official end early this year with the completion of the B6 office tower.

Site of 534-550 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Quadreal Property Group/PC Urban)

Site of the parkade at 150 West Pender Street, adjacent to the original main project site of 534-550 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

You might also like: