Gateway hotel tower with 10,000 sq. ft. top-floor restaurant eyed for Granville Bridge | Daily Hive

Gateway landmark condo and hotel tower with 10,000 sq. ft. top-floor destination restaurant proposed beside Granville Street Bridge in Downtown Vancouver

2026 revised concept of 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/Pinnacle International)

If built today, this tower would rank as the second-tallest building in Vancouver and the third-tallest in all of British Columbia.

A significant revision to both the scale and uses has been made to local developer Pinnacle International’s long-planned major project located immediately east of the north end of the Granville Street Bridge in Downtown Vancouver.

It would form a new landmark in the skyline when viewed from the bridge and False Creek, joining Vancouver House tower in fulfilling “gateway” towers into the city centre from the bridge.

Drastically revised details and conceptual renderings for the redevelopment at 601 Beach Crescent were unveiled yesterday, as the newly submitted rezoning application enters the formal public consultation phase.

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The proposal now envisions a 650-ft.-tall, 67-storey tower — including a 12-storey base podium — featuring a prominent new hotel, a tower rooftop hotel-operated destination restaurant and bar, additional strata market ownership condominium units, and the retention of the previous concept’s major social housing uses alongside ground-level retail/restaurant spaces.

Site of 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

The hotel component would include 206 guest rooms, distributed across levels seven to 12 of the base podium and levels 13 and 14 of the tower above the podium. Amenities for hotel guests on level nine would feature an outdoor rooftop pool and lounge on the podium’s lower rooftop, along with a fitness gym.

At the very top of the tower, the uppermost floors would be entirely dedicated to hotel use. Level 67, spanning approximately 10,300 sq. ft., would be entirely used for a destination restaurant complete with a large dining area, bar, lounge, two private dining rooms, and a full kitchen.

Just above, at the tower’s rooftop, a partial 68th level would feature an outdoor terrace dedicated to hotel guests. This space would include an expansive lounge seating area, a swimming pool, and a hot tub, all encircled by a running and walking track along the roof’s edge. Two dedicated hotel elevators would provide direct access to both of these uppermost hotel levels, which would boast spectacular views of the city and broader region.

601 beach crescent vancouver pinnacle hotel tower 2026

67th level hotel restaurant, bar, and lounge; 2026 revised concept of 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/Pinnacle International)

Partial 68th level with outdoor hotel amenity space; 2026 revised concept of 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/Pinnacle International)

2026 revised concept of 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/Pinnacle International)

Additional hotel functions would be located at ground level, including the hotel lobby — prominently accessed from Beach Avenue — along with conference facilities and a hotel-operated restaurant.

Strata market ownership condominiums would remain being the project’s primary use, with 480 units spanning levels 15 through 67. The unit size mix consists of 241 one-bedroom units, 181 two-bedroom units, and 58 three-bedroom units.

Social housing would continue to occupy much of the base podium, with 152 units — unchanged from earlier plans. This component includes 57 studios, 65 one-bedroom units, 15 two-bedroom units, and 15 three-bedroom units.

In total, the development delivers 632 residential units, with separate entrances and lobbies for each tenure along Beach Avenue. At grade, there would be 3,600 sq. ft. of non-hotel retail/restaurant space adjacent to the residential lobbies, as well as a new corner plaza fronting Beach Avenue and the future Rolston Street extension. Additional non-hotel retail/restaurant uses line the building’s western edge, helping activate the pedestrian-friendly public realm first created by the adjacent Vancouver House complex beneath the bridge’s Seymour Street off-ramp.

2026 revised concept of 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/Pinnacle International)

By comparison, the earlier rezoning application — approved by Vancouver City Council in 2020 — called for a 535-ft.-tall, 55-storey tower with 303 strata market ownership condominium units, 152 social housing units, and 23,000 sq. ft. of ground-level retail/restaurant space. Minor revisions followed in 2021 during the development permit stage, reducing the height to 521 ft. with 53 storeys without altering uses or density. The developer then proceeded to presales with a target completion of 2027, but progress was slowed by challenging market conditions, with a subsequent decision made to go back to the drawing board.

The introduction of a hotel component and increased residential uses — supported by additional height and larger floor plates — likely improves the project’s financial and economic viability, with recent municipal policies enabling greater height (particularly through relaxations to protected mountain view cones) and encouraging hotel development, including mixed-use hotel and residential projects.

There is very strong demand for additional hotel rooms in the city, with a growing shortage leading Destination Vancouver to estimate a need for 10,000 more rooms. This site, near the False Creek North waterfront, is both central and attractive for a hotel and is conveniently about a 10-minute walk from SkyTrain’s Yaletown-Roundhouse Station.

Pinnacle International also brings considerable hospitality experience, with existing properties such as the Marriott Vancouver Pinnacle Downtown Hotel, Pinnacle Vancouver Harbourfront Hotel, Pinnacle Hotel at the Pier, and Pinnacle Hotel Whistler Village, as well as upcoming developments including Le Méridien Richmond Pinnacle and Element by Westin Richmond near SkyTrain’s Capstan Station.

Previous 535-ft.-tall concept:

Cancelled: 2021 artistic rendering of the shorter design for 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/GBL Architects/Pinnacle International)

Newly revised 650-ft.-tall concept:

2026 revised concept of 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/Pinnacle International)

Architecturally, the design remains consistent with the earlier concept, retaining its inspiration from the flowing motion of a dancer’s dress. The original lead firm, Jyom Architecture, continues to guide the project through this latest revision.

“The design rationale is consistent with the original development permit where the form of the building is a movement-inspired design created by curves in the facade that flow dynamically from top to bottom. The additional hotel function further enhances the dynamic public realm in the new Beach neighbourhood,” reads the new application.

“As the surrounding context of the site continues to develop with the additional four development sites of the Granville Loops, it is consistent to increase the density and height of this site in order to evolve with the vision of the City’s growth and at the same time, to maintain the masterplan vision of the Gateway into Vancouver against future larger buildings approved in the immediate context.”

Previous 535-ft.-tall concept:

Cancelled: 2021 artistic rendering of the shorter design for 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/GBL Architects/Pinnacle International)

Newly revised 650-ft.-tall concept:

2026 revised concept of 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/Pinnacle International)

At 650 ft., the proposed tower would stand 115 ft. taller than the previous concept and 157 ft. taller than the adjacent Vancouver House tower by Westbank. Both towers create a visual gateway into the Downtown Vancouver peninsula from the bridge.

Although it is just nine feet shorter than Park Hyatt Vancouver (formerly known as Living Shangri-La Vancouver) — currently the tallest building in Vancouver — it would appear somewhat shorter due to its location at a lower elevation on the downtown peninsula, resulting in an overall shorter geodetic height (the combined height of the structure and land elevation).

At present, the city’s second-tallest building is the 616-ft.-tall Paradox Hotel Vancouver tower, while the tallest in Metro Vancouver is the 708-ft.-tall Two Gilmore Place tower in Burnaby’s Brentwood district.

2026 revised concept of 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/Pinnacle International)

Down below, three underground levels would provide 571 vehicle parking stalls, including 54 designated for hotel and retail/restaurant uses. The development also includes over 1,100 secured bicycle parking spaces, partially accommodated within a mezzanine level below ground level.

In total, the project delivers approximately 510,000 sq. ft. of market condominium space, 159,000 sq. ft. of hotel space, 112,000 sq. ft. of social housing, and 17,400 sq. ft. of non-hotel retail and restaurant uses.

The building’s total floor area would reach 798,000 sq. ft., resulting in a floor area ratio (FAR) of 12.98 — meaning the usable interior space is nearly 13 times the size of the 61,500 sq. ft. site. This represents a significant increase from the previous proposal’s 470,000 sq. ft. and FAR of 7.64.

2026 revised concept of 601 Beach Crescent, Vancouver. (Jyom Architecture/Pinnacle International)

This past winter, Pinnacle International’s 2016 acquisition of 601 Beach Crescent from the City of Vancouver came under scrutiny in a report by the City’s independent Auditor General examining municipal land transactions.

The audit identified broader systemic concerns in how the City manages, evaluates, and reports major real estate deals. It found that Vancouver lacks a consistent, strategic framework for land sales, with transactions often initiated reactively — frequently by developers — rather than through long-term planning. Weak policies, inconsistent documentation, and limited transparency make it difficult to demonstrate that the City is achieving optimal value for taxpayers. While no evidence of corruption was found, the report concluded that the negotiation-based system is overly informal and insufficiently transparent for transactions involving hundreds of millions of dollars.

The 601 Beach Crescent sale illustrates these structural challenges. The property was sold in 2016 under a complex pricing arrangement that included a deferred payment tied to future rezoning. Auditors identified a calculation error in determining this adjustment, resulting in an estimated $13 million understatement of what the developer owes the City.

Beyond the financial discrepancy, the audit also raised governance concerns. Although the original agreement required the developer to fund certain affordable housing contributions, the City later assumed responsibility for a $12.1 million community amenity contribution (CAC). Auditors found no clear documentation explaining this change and no evidence that it received approval from Vancouver City Council. This reflects a broader issue highlighted in the report: key decisions and trade-offs were not consistently documented or fully communicated to elected officials.

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