Potential pivot from office to hotel uses for future Metrotown tower

Potential pivot from major office to hotel uses for future Metrotown tower

Previous artistic rendering of Citizen with an office component at 4663 Kingsway, Burnaby. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Anthem Properties)

Challenging market conditions for office space appear to have prompted local developer Anthem Properties to request for the flexibility of hotel uses for one of the company’s largest upcoming tower development projects.

The future Citizen mixed-use tower at 4663 Kingsway — on the former footprint of Cactus Club restaurant, immediately north of Metropolis at Metrotown mall — will be one of Metro Vancouver’s tallest buildings, with a height of 692 ft containing 66 levels. This height exceeds Living Shangri-La in downtown Vancouver and is just short of the region’s new tallest building, Gilmore Place II.

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Currently, the project is approved to contain 372 market strata condominium homes within the upper half of the tower, 273 secured purpose-built homes (200 market rental units and 73 below-market rental units) within the mid-section of the tower above the base podium, and 150,000 sq ft of commercial office and ground-level retail and restaurant spaces within the base podium.

4653-4673 Kingsway 4638-4670 Hazel Street Surrey Metro King

Site of Citizen at 4663 Kingsway, Burnaby. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Anthem Properties)

Previous artistic rendering of Citizen at 4663 Kingsway, Burnaby. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Anthem Properties)

Anthem Properties is now seeking the municipal government’s flexibility for the potential conversion of the permitted seven office levels within the base podium. This would allow for the conversion into an all-suite hotel or regular hotel at a later date.

To accommodate this flexibility, minor changes to the project’s design would be made, such as changes to the ground level to create a hotel lobby and operations office, a back-of-house area on the third level, and a fitness gym and breakfast lounge for hotel guests on level four.

Previous building uses of Citizen with an office component at 4663 Kingsway, Burnaby. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Anthem Properties)

Previous artistic rendering of Citizen with an office component at 4663 Kingsway, Burnaby. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Anthem Properties)

No changes are planned in terms of total building floor area and the project’s other mixed uses, which also include double-height ground-level retail and restaurant units fronting Kingsway.

Another change is the installation of windows on the western facade of the base podium, including a slight setback from the property line for the upper levels of the podium. A temporary eight-storey tall mural was previously envisioned for the full height of the base podium’s facade until an adjacent abutting development covered it up. As the mural will now be significantly reduced in size, City staff will work with the developer to revise the project’s public art contribution to include a permanent public art contribution on the site.

Major construction work on Citizen — originally named “Metro King” — is expected to begin in Fall 2024 with site excavation, and the project is expected to reach completion in 2029. Citizen’s condominium component previously saw strong pre-sales. Chris Dikeakos Architects is the project’s design firm.

Previous artistic rendering of Citizen with an office component at 4663 Kingsway, Burnaby. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Anthem Properties)

On the south side of Metropolis at Metrotown mall, immediately adjacent to SkyTrain Metrotown Station, Thind Properties is planning to convert the office uses of its newly-built 48-storey Highline mixed-use tower into a hotel. This tower at 6505 Sussex Avenue was built with condominium, office, retail, and restaurant uses. The lower 10 levels of the building contain about 75,000 sq ft of office and ground-level retail and restaurant uses that will now be converted into a hotel with 159 guest rooms, along with supporting amenities for guests and spaces for hotel operations.

While there is currently a glut in office space, the same cannot be said for hotel room capacity.

According to a 2023 report by local tourism bureau Destination Vancouver, Metro Vancouver is facing a shortage of 20,000 hotel rooms over the coming decades, including 10,000 within Vancouver and 10,000 in other areas of the region outside of Vancouver. Without a meaningful increase in hotel room supply, the shortage will send hotel room rates to new heights, deter tourism, and impact many tourism-dependent jobs and the city’s ability to attract concerts, events, and festivals. The forecast of a seasonal shortage beginning in the peak season of 2026 will grow over the subsequent years.

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