Burnaby's old Brentwood Mall will soon be closing for good
The days of the old Brentwood Town Centre Mall in Burnaby are numbered.
Development company Shape Properties confirmed with Daily Hive Urbanized that the “Interior Centre” of the old indoor mall is expected to close “this late spring.”
Brentwood Town Centre first opened to the public in 1961. Initial flagship tenants included T.Eaton Co., Loblaw Groceteria, and Zellers.
The old indoor Brentwood Mall at The Amazing Brentwood. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Big changes came to the Brentwood area when the City of Burnaby approved the master plan for the redevelopment of the old Town Centre in 2013.
The 2013 master plan approval granted Shape Properties the ability to pursue up to 7.96 million sq ft of total building area in their redevelopment, now known as The Amazing Brentwood. This included 3.87 million sq ft of commercial uses — retail, restaurants, and offices — and 4.09 million sq ft of residential uses, with the developer primarily planning to build condominiums.
The initial phases of The Amazing Brentwood’s construction resulted in closures in Brentwood Town Centre, leaving the mall with few retail options.
The Amazing Brentwood and SkyTrain Brentwood Town Centre Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
When the new mall opened, the popularity of Brentwood Town Centre saw a steep decline as it sat in the shadow of the modern shopping centre, which blends an outdoor retail experience with several prime dining selections and entertainment options like The Rec Room and Cineplex VIP Cinemas.
- You might also like:
- London Drugs at The Amazing Brentwood mall is moving to a new location
- 4.7 million sq ft of housing, half rentals, to be added to The Amazing Brentwood plan
- 56-storey tower with 641 rental homes coming to The Amazing Brentwood
One of Brentwood Town Centre’s remaining tenants — London Drugs — also announced its plans to relocate to the new outdoor plaza area in 2025.
London Drugs’ future location at The Amazing Brentwood has been vacant since the complex was first built in 2021, but it was briefly temporarily used in 2023 for the Marvel Avengers STATION experience.
The old indoor Brentwood Mall at The Amazing Brentwood. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Future new replacement location of London Drugs at The Amazing Brentwood mall, within the 2021-built outdoor mall at the main Brentwood Plaza (previously temporarily used for a Marvel Avengers exhibition). (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
In early 2024, Shape Properties presented the city with a revised plan to add 4.67 million sq ft of strict residential uses, with at least 50% — or 2.36 million sq ft — required to secure purpose-built rental housing.
The substantial changes would grow The Amazing Brentwood’s floor area ratio (FAR) density to a floor area that is 10.53 times larger than the size of the mall lot — up from 6.6 FAR in the 2013 concept.
Initially, Shape Properties was looking to keep the Brentwood Town Centre, replacing its old fabric tent roof with a new conventional roof. The old roof showed signs of decay and what appeared to be mould.
The existing condition of the old indoor mall at The Amazing Brentwood. (Google Earth)
The old indoor Brentwood Mall at The Amazing Brentwood. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
But part of Shape Properties’ now-revised plan includes building two towers reaching 55 storeys to 80 storeys at the core of the site — on the footprint of the existing old indoor mall structure, which would be entirely demolished for not only the two tall towers but also 12-storey base podium structures.
Shape has not confirmed any further details about the old mall’s demolition at this time.
With files from Kenneth Chan