Federal aviation concerns could shrink Western Canada's tallest tower in Vancouver | Daily Hive

Concept for Western Canada's tallest tower in Vancouver may need to be shortened to comply with federal aviation requirements

Concept of the Hudson's Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia St., Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

Despite over 320 people registered to speak on Holborn Group’s proposal to redevelop the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block in the core of Downtown Vancouver — with three mixed-use towers, including what would become Western Canada’s tallest building, British Columbia’s largest hotel, and feature a world-class public observation deck attraction — the public hearing with Vancouver City Council advanced far more quickly than initially expected because a substantial majority of registrants had withdrawn or were not present when called.

City clerks moved through lengthy stretches of consecutive no-shows, allowing City Council to hear every registered speaker who appeared in person or called in during a single evening sitting. The public hearing on Thursday, July 23 began at 6 p.m. and concluded just before 1 a.m. the next day.

Although the public speaker list has now been completed, City Council will deliberate and vote on the project on Monday, July 27.

The public hearing also produced a tense exchange involving Unite Here Local 40 president Zailda Chan, whose union has actively campaigned against new hotel projects, policies intended to encourage additional hotel development, and market residential projects. The union has also recently intensified its activism to influence Vancouver municipal politics.

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Chan opposed the rezoning application and called for it to be returned to City staff until the ongoing Higher Buildings Policy review is completed in 2027. That review is expected to identify additional areas of the Downtown Vancouver peninsula where taller buildings could potentially be permitted.

She delivered her remarks in Spanish with the assistance of an interpreter at her side, despite subsequently responding fluently in English to city councillors’ questions. Chan has also addressed City Council in English during previous public hearings in recent days and earlier this year.

ABC city councillor Lenny Zhou questioned why Chan required an interpreter, prompting her to respond that English is her fourth language and that she had chosen to speak in the language in which she felt most comfortable.

“It is my choice to speak my own native language, which I can read and write and speak fluently in. It is my choice, as it is the choice of many marginalized people, to speak the language that they feel the most confident and the most capable of expressing their most concerns,” said the president of a union representing thousands of hotel workers in B.C.

ABC city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung also challenged Chan over the union’s apparent role in recruiting California residents to register for Vancouver’s public hearings that week. She accused the union of having “flooded the speaker’s list” and asked whether Chan would encourage those participants to withdraw so local residents could be heard.

Chan was asked the questions repeatedly but refused to answer, saying she believed they had been asked with “malicious intent.”

“Your question seems to have malicious intent, and so I am not under the court of law. I will not, I choose to not answer your question. I am not here to answer your questions that have no relevance to my speech,” said Chan.

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Protest outside Vancouver City Hall, July 2026. (Unite Here Local 40)

The confrontation built on mounting concerns over public speaker conduct during several public hearings held in recent days. City councillors had questioned possible repeat participation, speakers’ residency, and organizational affiliations, as well as whether some translated English statements accurately reflected what participants were saying in their original languages.

Like Chan, a number of other speakers requested the assistance of interpreters despite appearing able to speak English or having previously addressed City Council fluently in English. Under the rules, public speakers requiring interpretation receive up to 10 minutes — double the standard five-minute limit — to allow time for both the original remarks and their translation.

In an earlier public hearing this week on a proposed City policy involving the future redevelopment of the former Molson Coors brewery site, ABC city councillor Brian Montague accused some participants of exploiting the accommodation to prolong the proceedings, characterizing their conduct as an attempt to filibuster the public hearings.

Those concerns intensified after public speakers living in California, including individuals who acknowledged having never visited Vancouver, called into hearings and delivered detailed prepared statements on the other public hearing this week on the City’s proposed Villages Plan. Some also acknowledged participating in public proceedings in other jurisdictions of Canada.

Unite Here Local 40’s Zailda Chan admitted that her union asked their American counterparts to call into this week’s public hearings in Vancouver’s municipal government.

Mayor Ken Sim subsequently described their participation as “foreign interference” and called an emergency meeting with senior City officials and Vancouver Police Department Chief Steve Rai. Sim later confirmed that the matter had been referred to the police to determine whether there had been a coordinated or organized attempt to disrupt City Council’s business.

Sim also asked the provincial government to amend the Vancouver Charter to allow the City to restrict public hearing registration to Canadian residents. As an immediate procedural measure, on Thursday morning, City Council began reordering public speakers who could not confirm Canadian residency to the end of the speaking queue.

This ongoing public hearing controversy saw its latest act during the Thursday evening’s specific public hearing on one of the single largest and most ambitious private sector-led redevelopment proposals ever contemplated for Downtown Vancouver.

Holborn Group is seeking permission to redevelop nearly the entirety of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block — bounded by West Georgia, Seymour, Dunsmuir, and Richards streets. The tallest of the three towers on this site would reach a height of 1,034-ft-tall (315 metres) with 68 storeys to become the tallest tower in Western Canada and the country’s first technical “supertall” tower west of Toronto. It would contain approximately 920 hotel rooms, along with a 70,000 sq. ft. conference centre, including three large ballrooms.

At the top of this tower at a height of over 1,000 ft. would be a large glass-enclosed dome — featuring a one-of-a-kind observation deck attraction in a garden-like setting, with panoramic viewing areas, a restaurant, and lounge space across three levels. Overall, the attraction would span a significant floor area of over 50,000 sq. ft., including an entire tower floor near ground level for the welcome centre to access two direct, high-speed elevators serving the observation levels.

Next to the supertall skyscraper, the two residential towers would reach 783 ft. (239 metres) with 68 storeys and 889 ft. (271 metres) with 79 storeys, and contain a combined total of 1,546 homes — 1,270 strata market ownership condominium homes and 276 secured purpose-built rental homes — along with retail/restaurant space on the ground level.

Preliminary conceptual artistic rendering of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

501-595 West Georgia Street Vancouver Bay ParkadeHenriquez Holborn

Concept of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia St. and the social housing tower at 388 Abbott St., Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

Concept of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia St., Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

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Comparing the heights of the three towers on the Hudson’s Bay parkade site with Vancouver’s existing tallest buildings. (City of Vancouver)

All three towers would exceed the 659-ft height of the Shangri-La Vancouver tower, the city’s tallest existing building.

“It is of a height that has not yet been seen before in Downtown Vancouver,” said Josh White, the City of Vancouver’s general manager of planning, urban design and sustainability, during the public hearing.

“Though it is taller than what the current Higher Building Policy contemplates, many aspects of the proposal respond to the core tenants of the policy, including high quality architecture and significant public benefit, and responds to the many objectives in the Vancouver Official Development Plan from the spectrum of housing, including social rental strata tenure, economic development in the form of a hotel and conference facility, and expansion of public realm and pedestrian connections through large site open space.”

NAV Canada’s potential height reduction request could remove the “supertall” classification

However, the public hearing also revealed a potential complication involving the envisioned height of the hotel tower.

City staff said NAV Canada — the entity that operates and regulates the country’s civil air navigation system — recently advised the proponent that design changes may be required to satisfy federal aviation requirements, including a possible reduction of approximately 88 ft. (27 metres) from the height of the hotel tower topped off by the observation deck attraction.

If the full reduction were applied to the current concept, it would lower the height of the project’s tallest tower to 946 ft. (288 metres). At that reduced height, it would no longer qualify as a supertall tower. According to the Council on Vertical Urbanism, previously known as the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the universally accepted threshold for a supertall skyscraper is at least 300 metres (984 ft.).

However, Gregory Henriquez, managing principal of Henriquez Partners Architects, the Vancouver-based firm behind the project’s design, said the issue could be resolved through further discussions with NAV Canada and additional design development during later planning stages over the coming years.

Conceivably, this would be done by removing some of the hotel floors, without impacting the observation deck attraction.

View from the top of Queen Elizabeth Park; concept of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia St., Vancouver. (City of Vancouver)

Concept of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia St., Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

His firm also designed the Oakridge Park redevelopment, with Henriquez noting that the mixed-use residential towers ultimately built for that project had also previously raised concerns related to Vancouver International Airport’s (YVR) flight paths. He asserted those concerns were ultimately mitigated.

“This is something that we’ve encountered before. When we first started Oakridge, the [construction] cranes went up and we got a call from YVR and everyone [with a] big panic, that somehow we were in an emergency flight path,” with Henriquez noting that they were asked to take down the cranes immediately.

“Then we tried to explain to them that the buildings would be much taller than the cranes,” he added.

“So my point is, it’s a dialogue. They change their requirements and their flight paths depending on how the city evolves. It’s something that we negotiate over time.”

He further noted that, through the future pre-development permit application process, his team will resolve the aviation-related height issue “one way or another and the design will evolve to make sure that the viability is maintained.”

In some cities, taller towers near busy airspace are known to have red-coloured aviation obstruction lights. Such lights can also be seen atop the tallest towers of Marine Gateway in South Vancouver, which is near YVR’s runway approaches. Air space above and near the Downtown Vancouver peninsula is frequented by floatplanes and helicopters.

Concept of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia St., Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

When ABC city councillor Mike Klassen asked Henriquez why such a height is being pursued, Henriquez said the ambition originated with their client, the developer, who wanted to create a 1,000-ft-tall (305 metres) skyscraper on what he viewed as a uniquely prominent site in the heart of downtown.

“The intent from the beginning was to do something special within the heart of the downtown that needs significant body heat at a scale that would change what is now really, unfortunately, a desolate part of the city,” said Henriquez.

Henriquez said the goal was to give Vancouver a new landmark at a time when towers in other Metro Vancouver municipalities have surpassed much of the city’s skyline, noting that the Park Hyatt Vancouver tower, formerly the Shangri-La Vancouver and still the tallest building in Vancouver, now ranks well behind the region’s tallest buildings.

Moreover, even taller towers are in the development pipeline in other cities. In Burnaby’s Metrotown district, for example, Concord Pacific’s Sky Park tower is expected to surpass the height of the Brentwood district’s 2023-built Two Gilmore Place tower — B.C.’s current tallest building — during its final construction ascent later this year.

Henriquez added that the project was always intended to offer something more than height alone, including a major publicly accessible observation deck attraction at the top of the tower that would be free for Vancouver residents.

As a condition of the project’s rezoning approval, that free access would be guaranteed through a legal agreement registered on the property title, while the observation attraction itself would be secured through the site’s new zoning.

“It’ll be a commercially operated public observation deck, but [a] fee will only be charged for people who aren’t residents of Vancouver. So everyone who’s a resident of Vancouver, be you a child or elder, or someone in the middle, you can all go there for free,” said Henriquez.

“We’ll make sure everyone who’s of the city gets up there. Promise.”

Concept of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia St., Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

When asked to clarify about potential height changes, City staff said the proposed rezoning would establish only the project’s maximum height. This means that if it is required by NAV Canada, the tower could be shortened without requiring another rezoning or text amendment.

City staff also noted that reducing the tallest tower’s height would not reduce the developer’s public benefit package commitments, which are valued at a total of at least $305 million. The affected structure is the tower with 100 per cent hotel uses, while the project’s negotiated community amenity contributions (CACs) is primarily generated by the significant strata market ownership condominium uses in the two shorter towers on the site.

Furthermore, any floor area lost through a required reduction in the height of the tallest tower could potentially be offset — at least in part — by relocating that density elsewhere within the complex.

Establishing legal safeguards for the City to ensure $184-million worth of Gastown social housing is built

A second major component of the rezoning application would be constructed on a surface vehicle parking lot a few blocks away to the northeast at 388 Abbott St., immediately east of the Woodward’s complex on the southern edge of Gastown. It would take the form of a 25-storey tower with 237 social housing units, a 37-space childcare facility, and approximately 5,000 sq. ft. of commercial/cultural space on the ground level.

This entire mixed-use social housing tower and its land at Abbott Street would be transferred to the City’s full ownership upon completion.

When complete, the Abbott Street tower and land would be valued at about $184 million and represents the largest part of an overall public benefits package — estimated by City staff to be worth about $305 million.

City staff’s rezoning conditions include several financial and legal safeguards intended to ensure the Abbott Street social housing project is delivered. Throughout the public hearing, the desire for protections for the municipal government received considerable attention from public speakers and city councillors, given the developer’s drawn-out redevelopment of the former Little Mountain social housing site — due to a combination of a wide range of factors, both within and outside of its control.

Before Holborn Group can receive an above-grade structural permit for the residential portion of the Hudson’s Bay parkade redevelopment, it would have to provide the City with a letter of credit or other security worth approximately $184 million — the assessed value of the in-kind CAC of the Abbott Street social housing tower.

The City would hold that security until the completed Abbott Street social housing tower is transferred to municipal ownership. Over time, the value of this security would also be adjusted for construction-cost inflation.

If the developer does not obtain a building permit for the Abbott Street social housing tower project within four years of receiving the above-grade structural permit for the residential towers of the Hudson’s Bay parkade redevelopment, or if the completed social housing building and property are not transferred to the City within eight-and-a-half years, the municipal government could cash the security of $184 million.

An option allowing the City to purchase the Abbott Street property for a nominal price of $10.00 would also be registered on its title before the rezoning is enacted.

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Site of the social housing tower at 388 Abbott St., Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

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Preliminary conceptual artistic rendering of the social housing tower at 388 Abbott Street, Vancouver, which is associated with the Hudson’s Bay parkade redevelopment project. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

Of the 237 social housing units in the new Abbott Street tower, 167 units would replace the single-room occupancy units lost through the unexpected 2025 demolition of the Dunsmuir Hotel, a former SRO building on the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block that had deteriorated so quickly and severely over the span of a year that it became subject to an emergency demolition order. The building had been vacant since 2013, when its remaining residents were relocated to purpose-built social housing because of its poor condition even at that time. The developer previously had plans to preserve and integrate the facade of this building into the broader redevelopment on the block.

City staff said the base requirement would make 20 per cent of the social housing tower’s units available at the shelter rate and another 10 per cent affordable to households within BC Housing’s housing income limits. However, because the completed building would be transferred to the City without a mortgage, there would be far lower operating costs. City staff said they would aim to meet the City’s Downtown Eastside Plan’s deeper affordability target of 33 per cent shelter rate housing units, 33 per cent housing-income-limit units, and 33 per cent low-end-of-market rental units.

The Gastown Residents Association (GRA) is opposing the Abbott Street social housing concept, although it stressed that its objection is not to the construction of social housing or affordable housing itself.

Speaking on behalf of the GRA during the public hearing, Shannon Boase argued that Gastown and Railtown have already accommodated a disproportionate share of Vancouver’s social housing, supportive housing, SROs, and homeless shelters and services for decades, and that the City should instead pursue mixed-income communities by integrating affordable housing into major redevelopment sites across the city.

She also feared the arrangement could establish a precedent allowing other developers to meet their affordable housing obligations by placing the units in other neighbourhoods.

Concept of the social housing tower at 388 Abbott St., Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

Although the future Abbott Street social housing tower is currently technically described as mixed-income affordable rental housing rather than supportive housing, the GRA is also seeking greater certainty about its long-term use. If City Council approves the rezoning application, the Gastown residents want to see a legally binding covenant preventing the building from later being converted into supportive housing, an SRO, or another housing model without a new public approval process. There have been well-documented major operational challenges with supportive housing and SROs in and around the Downtown Eastside and on the Granville Strip, with residents and businesses frequently reporting a subsequent increase in crime, public safety, cleanliness, and public disorder issues.

“Residents remain concerned about what happens after rezoning. During our discussions with Holborn, we were advised that many of the detailed housing agreements and covenants would largely be negotiated after Council approves the project,” said Boase.

“That creates uncertainty. Residents deserve to know that what is approved today is what will exist 20 years from now.”

She says the association is also calling for good neighbour policies, the incorporation of neighbourhood-serving retail in the social housing tower’s ground level, and for a portion of the project’s cash CACs to be directed toward improvements in Gastown and Railtown.

Additional entrances for SkyTrain’s Granville Station

Some public speakers endorsed the Hudson’s Bay parkade redevelopment concept, describing it as a rare opportunity to create a major architectural landmark, revitalize a largely inactive downtown block, expand Vancouver’s severely constrained hotel and conference capacity, and generate new housing.

Winki MacDougall, the director of strategy and development for Downtown Van, the local business improvement association for Downtown Vancouver, said her organization strongly supports the project.

“This is an opportunity to transform one of downtown’s most underperforming blocks into a destination that attracts people year-round, not just during major events. This proposal delivers meaningful public benefits, active retail, a public plaza, streetscape improvements, rooftop attractions, new hotel and conference space, and personally, my favourite, a new entrance for Granville Station,” said MacDougall.

As an in-kind public benefit funded and built by Holborn Group, the parkade site redevelopment would also provide a new additional fourth direct street-level entrance into SkyTrain’s Granville Station. This entrance would be situated at the northeast corner of the intersection of West Georgia Street and Seymour Street, right next to the site’s new large public plaza with a built-in stage for events. The entrance at street level would feature two escalators and a staircase.

The new subway entrance would lead to an underground passage extending below Seymour Street into Granville Station’s original ticketing concourse (where the fare gates are located). Additionally, there would also be an additional underground entrance into the station from the passage beneath Seymour Street, providing a direct indoor entrance into the hotel lobby, conference centre, and observation deck attraction’s lower welcome level.

“Together, these investments will make downtown more vibrant, welcoming, and economically resilient,” continued MacDougall.

Concept of the ground level of the Hudson’s Bay parkade redevelopment in Downtown Vancouver, with the additional street-level entrance into Granville Station shown. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

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Concept of the lower level of the western side of the Hudson’s Bay parkade redevelopment in Downtown Vancouver, with the underground level of Granville Station’s expansion shown for the additional street and underground entrances. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Holborn Group)

Jess Ketchum, a former executive of the Expo ’86 World’s Fair and an advocate for bringing the 2010 Olympic Winter Games to Vancouver, said the proposal could give Vancouver the type of recognizable architecture associated with other major world cities.

“I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of visiting many of the great cities of the world, and history confirms for us that architecture is central to how many urban areas are viewed or perceived. I think of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Xi’an, Beijing, Tokyo, London, Paris, Rome, and of course, New York. When you think of those cities, you often envision their architecture. It’s a big part of your impressions of those urban areas,” said Ketchum.

“The project we are considering today, I believe, promises to be iconic architecture, a real statement on the skyline of the community. The sheer scope of it, we’ve already been discussing this evening, but the unique, I think highly creative design inspired by the beauty and ingenuity actually of our natural surroundings is just brilliant.”

Squamish Nation hereditary chief Ian Campbell also spoke in favour, highlighting the project’s engagement with Indigenous advisers and the opportunity to incorporate the history, culture, and continuing presence of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples into the design of the downtown development, particularly for the West Georgia Street side of the complex, the heritage Randall Building facade, and the new major public plaza.

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