Construction begins on major expansion of Electronic Arts' Burnaby campus

Artistic rendering of the EA Burnaby campus expansion at 3700 Gilmore Way, Burnaby. (DIALOG/Electronic Arts)

One of Metro Vancouver’s largest and oldest tech giants is moving forward with its plans to establish an even larger presence, providing more high-paying employment opportunities.

The official groundbreaking ceremony occurred earlier this afternoon for Electronic Arts’ (EA) major construction project of expanding their Canadian headquarters campus in Burnaby.

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The total floor area of the campus will grow by almost 40% with the construction of two additional buildings on a 12.6-acre property at 3700 Gilmore Way — immediately north of the existing 17-acre campus footprint at 4330 Sanderson Way. This expansion footprint to the north is currently largely used as surface vehicle parking lots.

EA Electronic Arts 3700 Gilmore Way Burnaby

Site of the EA Burnaby campus expansion at 3700 Gilmore Way, Burnaby. (Google Maps)

Site plan of the EA Burnaby campus expansion at 3700 Gilmore Way, Burnaby. (DIALOG/Electronic Arts)

The project will include a 180,000 sq ft, three-storey building and a 120,000 sq ft, three-storey building, adding a combined total of 300,000 sq ft of Class A office space. These buildings will have large floor plates of up to 61,000 sq ft for the west building and 41,000 sq ft for the east building. Large central atriums puncture the core of both buildings to provide daylight.

A skybridge over Sanderson Way will serve to provide EA employees in the north campus with a seamless connection to the existing main campus buildings to the south.

Workers within the expansion will have access to new amenities such as a cafeteria, cafe, and fitness gym, as well as bike storage, end-of-trip facilities with lockers, change rooms, and 360 vehicle parking stalls within underground levels.

Artistic rendering of the EA Burnaby campus expansion at 3700 Gilmore Way, Burnaby. (DIALOG/Electronic Arts)

The new buildings will accommodate between 500 and 600 employees, with other tenants joining EA.

The existing buildings at EA’s Burnaby campus span about 750,000 sq ft and employ about 1,300 people.

EA partnered with Kingswood Capital Corporation to pursue the development, which was designed by local architectural firm DIALOG. Canadian Turner Construction Company is the contractor.

The first new building is set to reach substantial completion in Spring 2024, and the interiors by the end of that year.

Aerial of the existing Electronic Arts Canadian headquarters office campus in Burnaby. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership Architects)

1077 Great Northern Way Vancouver South Flatz MEC

The newest South Flatz building (the former MEC headquarters) at 1077 Great Northern Way, Vancouver. (Low Tide Properties/PCI Developments)

In July 2021, EA also signed a deal with Low Tide Properties and PCI Developments to lease the former MEC headquarters office building at 1077 Great Northern Way in Vancouver as an expansion office. The video gaming giant’s contract is for the entire four-storey, 120,000 sq ft building, which was acquired by the property developers early this year for inclusion in their South Flatz office building collection. EA is expected to begin a phased move-in process into the former MEC building in Spring 2022.

Bragging rights. @EA #ElectronicArts #BCtech #vancre #vanre https://t.co/hHGASlVmaE pic.twitter.com/LVCpPFOrRj

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) August 24, 2021

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