New boutique hotel coming next to Gastown Steam Clock

Artistic rendering of the new boutique hotel at 302 Water Street, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

A narrow four-storey heritage building just across from the landmark Gastown Steam Clock will see renovations and a two-storey vertical addition for its transformation into a boutique hotel.

A newly submitted development permit application calls for repurposing the Edward Hotel at 302 Water Street — the southwest corner of the intersection of Water and Cambie streets — while also preserving its heritage features. The 1898-built building is classified as a B-listing heritage structure under the City’s Heritage Register.

You might also like:

The upper four levels are currently used as office space, including the headquarters of the Glowbal Restaurant Group, while the ground level’s retail space at the prominent corner is home to Water Street Cafe.

Existing condition:

Site of the new boutique hotel at 302 Water Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Artistic rendering of the new boutique hotel at 302 Water Street, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

The office levels and the two-storey addition over the existing structure will become 33 hotel rooms and the new rooftop will be an outdoor guest lounge and amenity space.

The hotel lobby entrance will be located on Cambie Street. The future of Water Street Cafe is unclear, as it is noted that the hotel will have a “restaurant/cafe/bar” at ground level.

According to the application by architectural firm Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership, the building’s design carries features that are from the Classical and Romanesque Revival — popular architectural styles of the Edwardian era.

Artistic rendering of the new boutique hotel at 302 Water Street, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

The two-storey addition carries a light, contemporary flair and is set back from the edge of the heritage structure to create a contrasting and “sawtooth” appearance on Gastown’s streetscape.

The building’s height will reach about 82 ft, which includes the elevator and emergency staircase core that will be added. The total floor area is about 15,000 sq ft, providing a floor area ratio of a floor area that is nearly six times the size of the lot.

The width of the building along its Water Street frontage is just 25 ft.

The operator of the hotel is not known at this time. Records show the property changed hands in a deal worth $10.2 million in March 2021.

Just one block to the east at Water Street’s prominent southwest corner with Abbott Street, there is no timeline for when the vacant lot will be developed. This was the site of the Winters Hotel SRO, which burned down in April following a deadly fire that began in the SRO operated by Atira Women’s Resource Society. The Flying Pig restaurant was the building’s main ground-level retail tenant.

Two-storey vertical addition highlighted for the new boutique hotel at 302 Water Street, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

You might also like: