Proposal for Western Canada's tallest tower heads to Vancouver City Council | Daily Hive

Proposal to build Western Canada's tallest tower, featuring a free public observation deck for Vancouver residents, heads to City Council

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

One of the single most ambitious private development proposals in Vancouver’s history is set to be considered by Vancouver City Council this summer.

The proposal consists of building the city’s three tallest buildings — including what would be British Columbia’s largest hotel in the core of Downtown Vancouver — as well as a separate City of Vancouver-owned social housing tower on a separate site on the edge of Gastown. Altogether, the project involves four buildings across two separate sites.

Moreover, the project’s two tallest towers would not only be Metro Vancouver’s tallest buildings, but the tallest tower — reaching 1,034 ft. (315 metres) — would also be Western Canada’s tallest building and the first technical “supertall” tower in this country outside of Toronto.

Next week, during a public meeting, Vancouver City Council is expected to follow City staff’s recommendation to refer local developer Holborn Group’s rezoning application to a public hearing later this month.

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The application for this skyline-changing landmark project, designed by Vancouver-based Henriquez Partners Architects, was submitted just over a year ago in June 2025.

Addressed as 501-595 West Georgia St., the main 2.54-acre project site would redevelop nearly the entire city block occupied by the Hudson’s Bay parkade — framed by West Georgia Street to the south, Seymour Street to the west, Dunsmuir Street to the north, and Richards Street to the east. In addition to replacing the large parkade, it would also replace some low-rise commercial buildings and the vacant former Dunsmuir Hotel SRO site.

501-595 West Georgia Street Vancouver Bay ParkadeHenriquez Holborn

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

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

Free entry for Vancouver residents into a public observation deck at over 1,000 ft.

Western Canada’s tallest building — fronting Seymour Street, closest to the former Hudson’s Bay department store building — would reach 68 storeys and contain 100 per cent hotel uses.

The hotel tower would include about 920 hotel rooms (a combination of traditional short-term and extended stay suites) and over 70,000 sq. ft. of convention and meeting space (including three large ballrooms) — creating one of B.C.’s largest conference centres within a hotel — as well as a significant one-of-a-kind public observation deck on its uppermost levels at an elevation of over 1,000 ft. (305 metres). This attraction, boasting stunning panoramic views of the Lower Mainland and beyond, is conceived within a fully enclosed glass dome and would feature lounge and restaurant space within a garden-like setting.

City staff highlight that the observation deck use would be secured through the zoning, and the developer has agreed to offer free access for City of Vancouver residents for the life of the building. This free entry for residents of the city would also be guaranteed through a legal agreement registered on the property title. Overall, this is being positioned as a major tourist attraction.

The number of hotel rooms would make a meaningful dent in filling Vancouver’s growing hotel room shortage, achieving nearly 10 per cent of the city’s target of adding 10,000 hotel rooms over the coming decades, while also providing a level of meeting and event space not seen in Downtown Vancouver hotel projects in years.

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

Preliminary conceptual artistic rendering of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia 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)

hudsons bay parkade vancouver redevelopment observation deck holborn

Preliminary conceptual artistic rendering of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia 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)

Two residential towers, plus retail, restaurants, a plaza, and new SkyTrain entrance

In addition to the supertall hotel tower, the Hudson’s Bay parkade site would also see the construction of two additional towers along the Richards Street frontage, with residential and commercial uses: an 889-ft-tall (271 metres), 79-storey tower, which would be Western Canada’s second tallest building, and a 783-ft-tall (239 metres), 68-storey tower.

Together, these mixed-use residential towers would contain 1,546 homes, including 1,270 strata market condominium homes and 276 secured purpose-built market rental homes.

The unit mix consists of 883 one-bedroom units, 396 two-bedroom units, and 267 three-bedroom units. About 38 per cent of the overall residential unit count would be two- and three-bedroom units, meeting the municipal requirement for including family-sized homes.

Within the base podium of these residential towers, there would be about 40,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space, helping activate the 17,000-sq-ft privately owned, event-friendly, publicly accessible plaza fronting West Georgia Street and the surrounding streetfronts. A standalone two-storey restaurant pavilion at the prominent northeast corner of the intersection of West Georgia Street and Seymour Street would also double as an additional subway entrance into SkyTrain’s Granville Station, funded by the developer, subject to further discussions with TransLink.

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

$300+ million public benefits, including a 25-storey social housing tower gifted to the City

The second part of the rezoning package is the separate site a few blocks to the northeast at 388 Abbott St. in Gastown — the surface vehicle parking lot at the northeast corner of West Hastings Street and Abbott Street, immediately east of the Woodward’s complex.

In exchange for the density and uses at the Bay parkade site, and as an in-kind community amenity contribution to the municipal government, Holborn Group would build a 25-storey social housing tower with 237 units, a childcare facility for 37 kids, and a 5,100 sq. ft. Indigenous art gallery and production space, with further discussions planned with local First Nations. As an alternative to such a gallery, the space could be repurposed for another community amenity use, with a cash contribution required for cultural spaces.

The Abbott Street social housing tower would be built to a turnkey standard and then transferred to City ownership upon completion. As a condition of approval, the social housing tower would have to be built in advance of, or at the same time as, the first residential tower on the Bay parkade site.

This social housing tower would also serve as replacement housing for the former Dunsmuir Hotel SRO at 500 Dunsmuir St., the vacant parcel at the northeast corner of the Bay parkade site. After sitting vacant for years due to its earlier poor condition from heavy SRO use, that building — technically containing 167 designated SRO units — was demolished in January 2025, after City Council declared it a danger to public safety in late 2024 after it was apparent the structure’s rate of deterioration had recently rapidly accelerated. The proposal would replace those rooms one-for-one with self-contained studio and one-bedroom social housing units within the Abbott Street tower, resulting in an overall net gain of social housing units.

388 Abbott Street Vancouver Henriquez Holborn

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

388 Abbott Street Vancouver social housing tower f1

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

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

Altogether, City staff estimate the value of the public benefits package at about $305 million across both development sites.

This includes about $91 million in development cost levies, an in-kind community amenity contribution valued at about $184 million for the new Abbott Street social housing tower and land, a $20 million cash contribution for public realm improvements in Downtown Vancouver, and about $6 million for public art, plus heritage retention value related to the Randall Building fronting West Georgia Street and the provision of an additional SkyTrain station entrance.

Green light from Vancouver Heritage Commission and Urban Design Panel

The proposal also involves a major heritage trade-off. The Randall Building, built in 1929, is a protected municipal heritage site, but the redevelopment would retain only its facade and remove the heritage designation from the full building. City staff acknowledge the facade-only retention and substantial demolition do not generally comply with City Council-approved heritage policies, but the City’s Vancouver Heritage Commission supported the proposal.

This past March, the City’s Urban Design Panel (UDP) also endorsed the project’s landmark design.

The panel had praise for the project, generally supporting its bold vision, overall tower layout, and architectural direction. Panel members said the tower arrangement made sense, and they liked how the plaza design had improved by becoming more inviting and better connected to the SkyTrain station and nearby streets. They also appreciated the clean design of the towers and Henriquez Partners Architect’s inspiration drawn from the glass sea sponge.

Overall, the panel described the proposal as a major, precedent-setting project that would help shape the future look and feel of Downtown Vancouver.

The UDP also made several recommendations, asking the architectural team to improve the plaza’s porosity and laneway integration, refine the base podium so it better interacts with the streetscape, add a broader mix of uses, increase tower separation, better showcase sustainability features, deepen Indigenous design integration, and find a more creative way to incorporate the West Georgia Street heritage facade.

In response to that feedback, the developer is now looking to acquire the vast majority of the City-owned, north-south laneway that bisects the Bay parkade city block. The laneway would be closed to form a single development parcel and plaza space.

While City staff are recommending that the project proceed to a public hearing this month, they have also outlined an alternative option of sending the application back to staff until the City’s Higher Buildings Policy review is completed, which is expected in the second quarter of 2027 — ultimately delaying the consideration of this proposal by up to about a year.

However, City staff recommend moving the application forward to public hearing this month, asserting that the proposal represents a rare opportunity to redevelop most of a city centre block beside two SkyTrain stations, while delivering significant hotel room and housing supply, as well as a wide range of public benefits, including a public observation deck attraction, childcare, cultural space, public spaces, an additional SkyTrain station entrance, and a City-owned social housing tower.

bay parkade towers holborn vancouver tallest

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

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)

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)

Concept of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia 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)

Concept of the Hudson’s Bay parkade city block redevelopment at 501-595 West Georgia 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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