Vancouver mayor seeks to expedite new hotel towers with Filipino Cultural Centre | Daily Hive

Preliminary concept of 1940 Main St. (south hotel tower with the Filipino Cultural Centre) and 143 East 3rd Ave. (north hotel tower), Vancouver. (Formosis Architecture/PortLiving)

Vancouver mayor Ken Sim and city councillor Lenny Zhou are calling for the formal support and accelerated process and review of a major cultural and economic development proposal that will bring a new Filipino Cultural Centre and two hotel towers to Main Street in the Mount Pleasant area.

The member motion is expected to be approved by Vancouver City Council next week.

The project has already gained some other momentum in recent weeks, after the Government of Canada indicated in its 2025 federal budget that an unspecified amount of funding will be allocated for the new centre. As well, the provincial government has indicated its support and previously conducted some public consultation, but has yet to commit to funding until a formal proposal and business case are presented.

There is also elevated support for such a project following the Lapu Lapu Day festival tragedy earlier this year.

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The two-site redevelopment proposal is being led by Tobi Reyes of local real estate development firm PortLiving, as well as Warren Dean Flandez, through the newly created non-profit organization Filipino Legacy Society. Both towers are designed by Formosis Architecture.

The main project site (south tower) at 1940 Main St. — situated at the northeast corner of the intersection of Main Street and East 4th Avenue — will see a 30-storey tower with hotel uses within the upper levels and a 60,000 sq. ft. community and cultural centre spanning the lower six levels of the tower. This tower could also potentially accommodate a childcare facility.

The second site (north tower) of 143 East 3rd Ave. is located less than half a block away near the northwest corner of the intersection of Main Street and East 3rd Avenue. This parcel is also envisioned to be a 30-storey tower, but it will have smaller floor plates as it is on a narrow-width lot, with hotel uses within the upper levels and some industrial/creative office space within the lower levels.

Both towers will replace old low-storey commercial/light industrial structures.

1940 main street 143 east 3rd avenue vancouver portliving hotel filipino cultural centre

Sites of 1940 Main St. (south hotel tower with the Filipino Cultural Centre) and 143 East 3rd Ave. (north hotel tower), Vancouver. (Formosis Architecture/PortLiving)

Preliminary concept of 1940 Main St. (south hotel tower with the Filipino Cultural Centre) and 143 East 3rd Ave. (north hotel tower), Vancouver. (Formosis Architecture/PortLiving)

Preliminary plans call for a combined total of over 500 hotel guest rooms, including 242 rooms in the south tower and 264 rooms in the north tower, serving both traditional short-term stay and long-term stay guests. The two sites are within close walking distance to SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station and Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station.

The substantial hotel uses will not only provide much-needed additional hotel room supply to help address Vancouver’s growing overnight accommodations crunch, but it is also crucial for the financial viability of the Filipino Cultural Centre, as it will help subsidize the construction costs and provide the land required. As well, a portion of the developer’s revenues from the hotel uses will be directed toward supporting the centre’s ongoing costs for operations and programming, akin to an operating endowment. Filipino Legacy Society will operate the centre.

Importantly, the proponents state the centre would be delivered at no cost to the municipal government, largely through a privately-funded model.

In an interview with Daily Hive Urbanized early this month, Flandez shared that there have been various unsuccessful attempts to establish such a permanent home for the Filipino Canadian community in B.C. over the past 40 years. But this latest concept is the most advanced and realistic yet, with everything seemingly falling into place.

“It’s the closest we’ve ever come to making this dream a reality. It’s the first of many steps, but it’s the most viable path forward that we have as a community,” said Flandez.

Preliminary concept of 1940 Main St. (south hotel tower with the Filipino Cultural Centre) and 143 East 3rd Ave. (north hotel tower), Vancouver. (Formosis Architecture/PortLiving)

This facility will be a permanent cultural home for the province’s large Filipino Canadian population, featuring event and gallery space, language and cooking classrooms, and what is described as the largest Filipino art collection outside the Philippines.

However, one of the towers may intrude into protected mountain View Cone 22 — emanating from the nearby intersection of Main Street, Kingsway, and East 7th Avenue. This view cone was also shifted and relaxed in 2024.

The view cone impact has prompted a request for flexibility through design or policy adjustments. The motion emphasizes urgency to work on a solution to address this issue due to a time-sensitive Letter of Intent with an unnamed international hotel operator that would partner with PortLiving.

The motion directs City staff to work with the developer to reshape the proposal in a way that “respects key view cone objectives to the extent feasible, including options for re-massing or podium redesign.”

Preliminary concept of 1940 Main St. (south hotel tower with the Filipino Cultural Centre) and 143 East 3rd Ave. (north hotel tower), Vancouver. (Formosis Architecture/PortLiving)

City staff will prioritize the review of the two-tower proposal, including processing and prioritizing the associated rezoning applications, with City staff reporting back on the progress no later than the first quarter of 2026. As well, the applications will be brought forward to the earliest available public hearing for City Council’s review and approval.

In addition, City staff will work with the various Filipino organizations on governance, programming, and temporary cultural space options — including potentially leasing a City-owned space at a nominal rate — until the new permanent purpose-built facility in the south tower is ready.

The motion deems this proposal and the efforts of all those involved as a “rare convergence of opportunity, community alignment, and private-sector commitment.”

Existing condition:

1940 main street vancouver filipino cultural centre portliving hotel

Site of 1940 Main St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Preliminary concept of 1940 Main St., Vancouver, featuring hotel uses and the Filipino Community and Cultural Centre. (Formosis Architecture/PortLiving)

This is not the first time the municipal government has provided special and expedited consideration for a unique development proposal of significance.

In March 2021, City Council approved City staff’s request to enable AbCellera’s proposal to build a new major global headquarters office and research centre complex under a highly rare, expedited stream of combining the rezoning and development permit application process into one.

“The reasons for advancing this quickly are they are rapidly growing and would like to stay in Vancouver, and we would like them to… We’re very glad to have this company in Vancouver and want to provide them with a permanent home, but in order to scale up, the timeframe to produce their therapy [for viruses] is really time sensitive,” said the City’s chief urban planner at the time, while also emphasizing the high-paying jobs and economic impact.

“We want to bring this in advance of the completion of the Broadway Plan because of the time sensitivity, and because it is such a pertinent use for the aspirations that are coming out of both the Vancouver Plan and the Broadway Plan.”

AbCellera’s rezoning was subsequently approved in late 2021, and construction began in Fall 2022. The final building in this health sciences complex — situated nearby in the Mount Pleasant Industrial District — is expected to reach completion before the end of this year.

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