This is the proposed car-free transformation of the Granville Strip | Daily Hive

This is the proposed car-free transformation of the Granville Entertainment District

Granville Street in the Entertainment Core sub-area; Preliminary concept of the Granville Strip master plan for illustrative purposes only, February 2025. (City of Vancouver)

Staff with the City of Vancouver have set their sights on revitalizing the Granville Strip in downtown Vancouver, with a newly proposed master plan aimed at reshaping the area into a vibrant and modernized entertainment district featuring a wider mix of uses, much higher building densities and heights, and drastically improved public spaces.

The planning process for such a master plan for the Granville Entertainment District first began in early 2023, and the new vision stretches a six city block stretch of Granville Street between West Georgia Street and Drake Street. And now, public consultation is underway toward finalizing the strategy.

There would be short- and medium-term changes within the first 10 years, and longer term transformations within an overall 20-year timeframe.

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In addition to catalyzing new major developments that transform the Granville Entertainment District into an all-day destination — beyond its existing nighttime focus — Granville Street would become a north-south linear plaza and pedestrian corridor, featuring ample open and flexible spaces for high pedestrian traffic volumes, outdoor events and festivals, and major public art installations for an “Outdoor Museum with a unique day and night experience.”

However, as it turns out, the Granville Strip master plan would also involve major changes to the parallel streets — Howe Street to the west and Seymour Street to the east.

Buses relocated to create a permanent car-free Granville Strip for pedestrians and events

The intent is to gradually transition this six city block stretch of Granville Street into a permanent, year-round car-free, pedestrian-only zone.

All vehicles would effectively be banned on this segment of Granville Street, including TransLink buses.

This would begin with initial summertime-only temporary pedestrian zones, with new patios and events over the first decade after the master plan’s approval. This could begin as early as Summer 2025 with temporary bus reroutings, street activations, and repairs to street furniture, along with new and improved public safety strategies in coordination with the Vancouver Police Department.

Over the longer term, this would be followed by the permanent shift when Granville Street’s roadway and pedestrian sidewalks are completely rebuilt into a new fully-integrated inviting public space design.

And over an even longer period, the aim is to extend Granville Street’s permanent car-free, pedestrian-only zone northward by five blocks from Robson Street to West Cordova Street and the future Waterfront Station precinct. With the Granville Connector’s new pedestrian and cyclist pathways on the Granville Street Bridge, set to open later in 2025, this would effectively create a continuous destination pedestrian experience from the south end of the bridge all the way to Waterfront Station.

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Existing transportation network on Granville Street, Howe Street, and Seymour Street. (City of Vancouver)

Proposed long-term permanent car-free, pedestrian-only zone on Granville Street between Waterfront Station/West Cordova Street and Drake Street, and the relocation of TransLink buses to the adjacent Howe Street and Seymour Street; concept for the Granville Strip master plan, February 2025. (City of Vancouver)

Currently, eight frequent TransLink bus routes run along Granville Street in downtown Vancouver, with 1,100 daily weekday bus trips carrying an average of 21,000 riders.

For the buses that currently run along Granville Street between Granville Street Bridge and West Hastings/West Cordova streets, these buses would be permanently re-routed along Howe Street in the southbound direction and Seymour Street in the northbound direction.

City staff are proposing to implement bus transit priority and public realm improvements along both Howe and Seymour streets, including reducing the number of general purpose vehicle travel lanes and curbside on-street parking spaces. Currently, each of these one-way streets have two vehicle travel lanes and curbside vehicle parking on both sides of the streets.

The transit priority measures could include bus-only lanes, bus bulbs (sidewalk extensions at bus stop locations), parking and turning restrictions, and traffic signal changes. There would also be improved wayfinding signage for passengers looking to make a connection with SkyTrain stations.

TransLink trolley buses on Granville Street looking north from Smithe Street. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

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TransLink trolley buses on Granville Street looking south from near West Georgia Street. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Currently, whenever Granville Street is closed for events, buses are already rerouted to Seymour Street and Howe Street. Overhead trolley bus lines have long been in place to retain this capability for diverting buses onto these adjacent parallel streets.

As well, for about five years in the lead-up to the 2010 Olympics, all buses on Granville Street within downtown Vancouver were rerouted to Seymour and Howe streets due to the construction impacts of the Canada Line’s Vancouver City Centre Station and the subsequent reconstruction of the entire street with a new design.

But of course, such permanent bus reroutings come with some tradeoffs, particularly for passengers who would need to walk a longer distance to reach bus stops, and the confusion it could create for placing northbound and southbound bus stops two blocks apart.

Ultimately, this would require TransLink’s approval — not just for rerouting their buses, but for changing the configuration and design of Howe and Seymour streets, which are a part of the regionally designated Major Road Network and form a part of Vancouver’s non-freeway segment of the Highway 99 route.

Taller building heights through additional view cone changes

In July 2024, Vancouver City Council approved a number of changes to the protected mountain view cone policies that limit building heights.

These previous changes included the elimination of three view cones — view cones 12.1.1, 12.1.2, and 12.1.3 — that emanate northwest from the middle of the Granville Street Bridge deck toward the West End. But it fully retained View Cone 12.2 without any changes, which has since been renamed as simply View Cone 12.

In order to catalyze new building developments along the Granville Strip that introduce hotel uses, office space, retail, restaurants, entertainment and cultural uses, and public benefits, the master plan contemplates narrowing the width of View Cone 12 to just above the Granville Street roadway, instead of the current policy of the view cone spanning the properties on either side of the street.

It would specifically protect the view of the mountains from the new Granville Connector pedestrian and cyclist pathways on the west side of the bridge.

This would narrow the view of the mountains, with the northern street-end view protected. But in the process, it would enable higher building heights of about 200 ft to up to 400 ft along both sides of Granville Street between West Georgia Street and Drake Street, with the tallest buildings located near SkyTrain’s Vancouver City Centre Station.

2024 changes to View Cone 12 emanating from Granville Street Bridge. (City of Vancouver)

Existing View Cone 12:

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2024-created View Cone 12 (formerly View Cone 12.2) from the east sidewalk of the middle of the Granville Street Bridge. (City of Vancouver)

Proposed changes to View Cone 12:

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Proposed narrowing of View Cone 12 for the Granville Strip’s master plan, with the view from Granville Connector’s pedestrian and cyclist pathways on the west side of middle of the Granville Street Bridge deck protected. (City of Vancouver)

The additional density through extra height would improve the financial viability of new mixed-use developments that incorporate hotel and job space, as well as the inclusion of other complementary uses and public benefits for the entertainment district — such as development-driven funding to improve the existing venues of the Commodore Ballroom, Orpheum Theatre, and Vogue Theatre, and the construction of new performance venues.

The added building height would also enable secured purpose-built rental housing within new mixed-use developments in select areas of the Granville Strip, which could better support the viability of not only hotel and job space uses but also replacement affordable housing and the higher costs associated with retaining, restoring, and integrating heritage structures.

Typically, residential uses are not considered complementary to entertainment districts, which are known for their excess noise and light. The master plan proposes requiring new residential developments to incorporate superior noise reduction measures in their design and placing residential units on the upper floors of towers — such as above mid-rise commercial base podiums — to buffer them from street-level noise.

Proposed concept for the Granville Strip master plan, February 2025. (City of Vancouver)

The City’s master planning process for the Granville Strip was originally triggered by Bonnis Properties’ massive 800 Granville Street mixed-use redevelopment proposal with office space as the primary use on top of retail, restaurant, and entertainment uses.

In an interview with Daily Hive Urbanized in December 2024, Kerry Bonnis, whose family owns and operates the real estate development company, shared his 800 Granville Street proposal is in the process of being redesigned with two towers containing over 500 rental homes and a hotel with about 150 guest rooms. The office space component would play a much smaller part.

The original redevelopment concept’s significant retail, restaurant, and entertainment uses — including the full retention of the Commodore Ballroom and Commodore Billiards — within the base levels would essentially remain the same in the forthcoming revised design, including major restaurant uses on the fourth/fifth levels overlooking the street. Bonnis says even more outdoor dining uses have now been added within the upper levels of the base podium.

City staff have indicated they would support some residential uses — specifically rental housing — on the 800 block of Granville Street on a case-to-case basis to support “near-term revitalization” of the strip.

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Cancelled concept: August 2021 artistic rendering of the revised design for 800 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins&Will/Bonnis Properties)

“City Centre” sub-area includes some of Vancouver’s new tallest towers

Under the proposed master plan, the “City Centre sub-area” of the Granville Strip spans two blocks between West Georgia Street and Smithe Street.

When it comes to new building developments, the new uses for the sub-area would enable mixed-use residential, including “some of Vancouver’s tallest towers, redefining the city skyline and marking the area as a key gateway to downtown” to create a “vibrant, civic, retail, and commercial hub.”

“We will consider an increase in height on larger sites in this sub-area that will define the centre of the city skyline, while also helping to achieve other City objectives for Granville Street and the downtown area through the redevelopment of these sites.”

Although the master plan makes no mention of it, this policy approach could potentially catalyze the redevelopments of the large sites of the existing mid-rise structures of the former Nordstrom building of CF Pacific Centre and the adjacent Best Buy building.

City Centre sub-area; Preliminary concept of the Granville Strip master plan for illustrative purposes only, February 2025. (City of Vancouver)

As well, new developments in this area would make improvements to the access of SkyTrain’s Vancouver City Centre Station and possibly Granville Station. New development guidelines for this area would be required to integrate the SkyTrain stations into the design of the new development, with the master plan’s illustrations showing the potential for new additional entrances into the stations.

A Times Square-like space for Vancouver

Within the City Centre sub-area, the block-long segment of Granville Street between West Georgia Street and Robson Street would become the main “central public plaza” focal point of the overall permanent pedestrian-only zone, such as for civic gatherings and celebrations.

The master plan makes a reference of turning the intersection of Robson Street and Granville Street into a “landmark destination,” with City staff specifically highlighting Times Square in New York City. This intersection would be defined by its increased concentration of large video screens for not only advertising, but also for coordinated digital art displays, live screenings of sport and concert events, and other large gatherings.

Intersection of Robson and Granville streets on the border of the City Centre and Entertainment Core sub-areas; Preliminary concept of the Granville Strip master plan for illustrative purposes only, February 2025. (City of Vancouver)

This takes cues from the existing pair of advertising video screens on the Best Buy building, which allocate a portion of their display time to community uses under an agreement with the municipal government.

Aside from Times Square, other examples of such spaces include Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto and Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo.

In 2024, this intersection saw some improvements for its high pedestrian volumes from the installation of a pedestrian scramble crossing, enabling pedestrians to cross six ways, including diagonally, during a traffic signal crossing pattern that stops all vehicle traffic.

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The three-storey retail building at 798 Granville Street (on Robson Street), home to Best Buy and the future Marshalls store. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The three-storey retail building at 798 Granville Street (on Robson Street), home to Best Buy and the future Marshalls store. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

“Entertainment Core” sub-area, including major hotels

For the three-block segment of Granville Street between Smithe Street and Davie Street, many of the current long-established traditional entertainment district uses within this “Entertainment Core” sub-area would be maintained and intensified, including live music venues, theatres, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and other attractions.

There would be new indoor-outdoor performance and entertainment spaces, with larger ground-level entrances and openings enabling music performances to spill out onto the street from venues. This includes creating outdoor stages and open-air seating for people to enjoy live music.

Granville Street in the Entertainment Core sub-area; Preliminary concept of the Granville Strip master plan for illustrative purposes only, February 2025. (City of Vancouver)

Intersection of Smithe Street and Granville Street in the Entertainment Core sub-area; Preliminary concept of the Granville Strip master plan for illustrative purposes only, February 2025. (City of Vancouver)

Entertainment Core sub-area; Preliminary concept of the Granville Strip master plan for illustrative purposes only, February 2025. (City of Vancouver)

Additionally, policies would encourage significant new hotel projects within major mixed-use developments, as well as elevated dining by supporting new restaurants, rooftop patios, and streetside patios.

One such proposal already exists. The City is currently in the process of reviewing Deecorp Properties’ rezoning application to redevelop 1167 Granville Street (717 Davie Street) — the northwest corner of the intersection of Davie Street and Granville Street — into a 33-storey, mixed-use hotel tower with 464 guest rooms, a hotel bar and lounge on the ground level, and a hotel restaurant on the second level. As well, a tower rooftop destination on the 33rd floor would feature a 2,000 sq ft indoor bar and lounge and a 5,500 sq ft outdoor patio with an outdoor swimming pool.

Artistic rendering of the hotel tower at 1167 Granville Street (717 Davie Street), Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Deecorp Properties)

Artistic rendering of the hotel tower at 1167 Granville Street (717 Davie Street)t, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Deecorp Properties)

The master plan would also strengthen existing neon signs and marquees within this sub-area, and encourage new and creative signs through new developments.

New residential developments would not be permitted in the Entertainment Core sub-area, but major office spaces would be encouraged to help drive daytime pedestrian traffic.

“Bridgehead” sub-area

As for the southernmost extent of the Granville Strip, the approximate one block stretch of Granville Street between Davie Street and Drake Street would see a “blend of residential, commercial, cultural spaces, local shops, and a quieter street experience.”

Residential uses, specifically rental housing, would be permitted within this area to enhance the potential for “immediate revitalization,” support new affordable housing to replace existing SROs, and catalyze new cultural spaces. Some hotel and other commercial uses would also be encouraged.

South of Drake Street, Granville Street’s car-free pedestrian zone would transition onto the Granville Connector’s protected pedestrian and cycling pathways along the west side of the bridge.

As well, the northern end of the bridge would be anchored by the municipal government’s plans to redevelop the footprint of the bridge’s now-demolished loops into several towers up to 40 storeys, containing about 1,000 homes and a mix of other uses.

An online survey on the proposed master plan for the Granville Entertainment District is now open until February 23, 2025. Submitted feedback will be used to finalize the master plan for Vancouver City Council’s review and approval in June 2025.

Intersection of Davie Street and Granville Street in the Bridgehead sub-area; Preliminary concept of the Granville Strip master plan for illustrative purposes only, February 2025. (City of Vancouver)

Bridgehead sub-area; Preliminary concept of the Granville Strip master plan for illustrative purposes only, February 2025. (City of Vancouver)

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