Industrial Light & Magic to relocate Vancouver studio to The Stack tower

Industrial Light & Magic to relocate Vancouver studio to The Stack office tower

Darth Vader from Star Wars (Lucasfilm/Disney) and The Stack office tower in downtown Vancouver (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive).

After a decade of being based in the historic Gastown district, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is relocating its Vancouver studio to a newly built office building in downtown Vancouver.

Daily Hive Urbanized has learned that starting in January 2025, the visual effects company’s Vancouver studio will be located at The Stack office tower at 1133 Melville Street, which is closer to the core of the Central Business District and near SkyTrain Burrard Station.

ILM opened its new Vancouver studio in 2014 within a 30,000 sq ft space at 21 Water Street in Maple Tree Square in Gastown. This building, constructed in 1911 and owned by Low Tide Properties, is also known as The Packing House. After 10 years, their lease for the space has now ended.

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In 2014, at the time of the opening, ILM’s space was already largely move-in ready, as major upgrades were recently made for its previous use as the studio of Pixar Animation Studios Canada, which departed in 2013, when Pixar decided to consolidate its operations at its California headquarters.

Both Pixar and ILM are owned by The Walt Disney Company.

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Industrial Light & Magic’s Vancouver studio at 21 Water Street in Gastown. (Google Maps)

industrial light magic vancouver 21 water street gastown

2014 opening of Industrial Light & Magic’s Vancouver studio at 21 Water Street in Gastown. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

2014 opening of Industrial Light & Magic’s Vancouver studio at 21 Water Street in Gastown. (ILM)

The Stack reached completion in 2023, and it is not only one of Vancouver’s largest buildings in terms of its total floor area of 550,000 sq ft of premium AAA office space, but it is also the tallest office building in Metro Vancouver with its height of 530 ft, containing 37 storeys. The tower was designed by James Cheng Architects and Adamson Associates Architects, and it is owned by Oxford Properties.

At The Stack, ILM staff will have access to 300 seats for a hybrid work arrangement, along with ample in-building amenities. ILM’s Vancouver studio employs several hundred people locally.

Daily Hive Urbanized has reached out to ILM for comment.

Other tenants at The Stack include BDC, Blakes, DLA Piper, Canaccord Genuity, Fluor, and Plenty of Fish. Ernst & Young (EY) is the building’s main anchor tenant, with its corporate logo sign installed at the top of the tower to signify its major presence.

ILM’s departure from its century-plus old building in Gastown to a new modern office tower with the latest worker amenities and optimal design considerations represents the latest major example of the recent trend of the flight to higher quality office spaces.

the stack office tower vancouver 1133 melville street

Exterior of The Stack office tower. (Oxford Properties)

the stack office tower 1133 melville street vancouver

Exterior of The Stack office tower. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Inside The Stack office tower. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Views from the rooftop of The Stack office tower. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

In 2022, ILM expanded its local operations beyond its Gastown studio space by building its fifth permanent StageCraft LED virtual production system in Vancouver. The StageCraft LED studio in Vancouver spans over 20,000 sq ft, with the technology — a more efficient system than green screens for some types of productions — best known for being initially used in a major way for Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian on Disney+.

The Vancouver studio was directly involved in productions such as not only The Mandalorian but also Aquaman, Terminator: Dark Fate, Good Night Oppy, The Sandman, and Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

In 2022, Walt Disney Animation Studios also established a major new presence in Vancouver, where the storied studio has its second animation production location in the world outside of its Burbank headquarters. They now have a 32,000 sq ft studio space at 1132 Hamilton Street in Yaletown.

industrial light magic disney vancouver pride parade 2023

Staff of the Vancouver studios of Industrial Light & Magic and Walt Disney Animation Studios marching in the 2023 Vancouver Pride Parade. (ILM)

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