New office space at Metrotown SkyTrain tower to become a hotel

New office space at Metrotown SkyTrain tower to become a 159-room hotel

Highline tower at 6505 Sussex Avenue, Burnaby. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

There will be a major change of use for the newly-built Highline Metrotown tower located immediately southeast of SkyTrain Metrotown Station and the bus exchange.

During Monday’s public meeting, Burnaby City Council provided glowing commentary in their initial review of Thind Properties’ application to revise the rezoning for its mixed-use tower at 6505 Sussex Avenue in order to enable a sizeable hotel.

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This would be a conversion of the existing office uses within the first 10 levels of the 48-storey tower into a hotel with 159 guest rooms, along with supporting amenities for guests and spaces for hotel operations.

highline tower 650 sussex avenue thind properties

Location of Highline tower at 6505 Sussex Avenue, Burnaby. (Google Maps)

Highline tower at 6505 Sussex Avenue, Burnaby. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

“I think this is exactly what we need. We need more hotel rooms in Burnaby, and this will be good for us on the long run,” said Mayor Mike Hurley during the meeting.

City councillor Pietro Calendino added, “I’m pleased to see that there is this application to create hotel space in the Metrotown area.”

Burnaby chief planner Edward Kozak noted that the developer had originally considered the option of hotel uses for the commercial space within the building, but later decided to proceed with office uses.

Altogether, the lower 10 levels of the building contain a combined total of about 75,000 sq ft of office and retail/restaurant space.

Highline tower at 6505 Sussex Avenue, Burnaby. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

City Council provided the project with final approval in 2018, but since then, the market demand for office space has headed into a different direction.

In Fall 2023, Highline tower reached completion at the southwest corner of the intersection of Beresford Street and Sussex Avenue. It primarily contains 336 market condominium homes in the levels above the building’s commercial volume. Chris Dikeakos Architects is the project’s design firm.

To support the introduction of the hotel use, the existing office lobby will merged into two adjacent ground-level retail units to create a single large hotel lobby. This includes space for a hotel lounge, concierge, business centre, and liquor primary lobby bar. The remaining third retail unit fronting Beresford Street will become a liquor primary pub or food primary restaurant to potentially complement hotel operations.

On the fifth level, there will be a fitness and outdoor roof deck, which were previously intended to be used as shared amenity spaces for office tenants.

Original concept: Artistic rendering of the office lobby for Highline tower at 650 Sussex Avenue, Burnaby. (Thind Properties)

Original concept: Artistic rendering of the retail/restaurant space for Highline tower at 650 Sussex Avenue, Burnaby. (Thind Properties)

Original concept: Artistic rendering of the office space for Highline tower at 650 Sussex Avenue, Burnaby. (Thind Properties)

Additionally, six vehicle parking stalls in the underground parkade will be removed to provide space for linen storage, laundry facilities, and hotel employee areas.

At this early stage, the developer has yet to indicate the potential hotel brand and operator.

This is a strategic location for a hotel, given its close proximity to both the transit hub and Metropolis at Metrotown shopping mall. It also aligns with the City’s Metrotown Downtown Plan, and provides new active uses for the emerging Beresford Street retail strip.

According to local tourism bureau Destination Vancouver, Metro Vancouver is in need of 20,000 additional hotel rooms over the coming decades, including 10,000 rooms within Vancouver and 10,000 rooms elsewhere in the region outside of Vancouver. If the status quo holds, an annual peak season hotel room shortage could begin in 2026.

Highline tower at 6505 Sussex Avenue, Burnaby. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

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