City of Vancouver leases 52,000-sq-ft office in downtown for 500 staff | Daily Hive

City of Vancouver leases 52,000 sq. ft. of office space in downtown for 500 staff

1125 Howe St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

The City of Vancouver has signed a new lease for a significant office space in downtown Vancouver as part of its ongoing operations.

According to NAI Commercial’s new market bulletin, Vancouver’s municipal government has leased 51,608 sq. ft. of office space at 1125 Howe St., which is a 1985-built, 14-storey office building at the southwest corner of the intersection of Helmcken Street and Howe Street.

The City will effectively take over about 40 per cent of this building, which has a total floor area of 129,000 sq. ft. of office space.

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Upon inquiry, the City of Vancouver told Daily Hive Urbanized that the leased floor area spans about five floors.

When ready, about 500 City staff will relocate to 1125 Howe St., replacing an existing privately-owned leased office space that the municipal government has chosen not to renew.

It is anticipated that City staff will begin using the location in June 2027.

“An assessment of existing City office space determined that the City’s current holdings could not accommodate the required timelines or configuration to support the City’s return-to-office policy, making leasing the most practical option,” stated the City.

1125 Howe St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

A wave of recent office leasing activity across Metro Vancouver highlights continued demand from a mix of tech, education, public sector, and retail businesses needing office space, according to NAI Commercial.

In downtown Vancouver, Wartsila, a Finnish green energy firm specializing in the needs of marine transport, leased 5,518 sq. ft. at 570 Granville St., while Vancouver-based blockchain infrastructure tech company LayerZero took 32,331 sq. ft. at 1021 West Hastings St. At the Deloitte Summit office tower, Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization subleased 14,864 sq. ft., and Ascenda School of Management secured a major 49,105 sq. ft. lease.

Nearby in the city centre, Next Level Games leased 36,000 sq. ft. at the Four Bentall Centre office tower, and financial platform Brex took 28,000 sq. ft. at 545 Robson St., which is the office space within the base podium of the Telus Garden residential tower (not to be confused with the Telus Garden office tower fronting West Georgia Street).

Outside the downtown Vancouver peninsula, E-Comm 911 — British Columbia’s largest emergency communications service, handling 99 per cent of the province’s 9-1-1 calls and dispatching for over 30 police agencies and 40 fire departments — notably leased 28,497 sq. ft. at the King George Hub office building in Surrey City Centre, while California-based cybersecurity firm Infoblox took 10,978 sq. ft. at the Metrotower I office tower at Metropolis at Metrotown mall.

skytrain king george hub february 12 2022

King George Hub next to SkyTrain King George Station in Surrey City Centre. (Kenneth Chan)

Japanese giant Hitachi leased 16,905 sq. ft. at the Discovery Place III business park at 3577 Gilmore Way, and Chinese tech firm Huawei secured 5,090 sq. ft. at Station Square in the Metrotown district.

Costco leased 14,000 sq. ft. in Willingdon Park, while Qualcomm, Co-operative Housing Federation of BC, and Infosys have committed to 10,011 sq. ft., 19,497 sq. ft., and 49,700 sq. ft., respectively, at the Broadway Tech Centre next to SkyTrain’s Renfrew Station in East Vancouver.

Other notable office leasing includes global sports retailer JD Sports subleasing 11,541 sq. ft. at The Lightworks Building and Fraser Health Authority leasing 14,456 sq. ft. within the newly-built M4 building within the Main Alley tech campus — the same building that houses Netflix Animation Studios. Both buildings are within the Mount Pleasant Industrial Area of Vancouver.

Earlier this spring, roughly 1,000 Amazon staff relocated from the company’s longtime presence at the Telus Garden office tower to a substantial portion of the 600,000 sq. ft. of newly-built office space within the North Tower of The Post office complex. Amazon established its first major corporate office location in downtown Vancouver at Telus Garden in 2015, and its lease for about 148,000 sq. ft. of space at this building will come to an end in June 2026.

Netflix Animation Studios at M4, Vancouver. (Craig Minielly/Netflix)

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