Downtown Vancouver condo tower could be fully converted into a hotel

Level Yaletown-Seymour at 1022 Seymour Street, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

An existing condominium tower built just over a decade ago in downtown Vancouver is being eyed by its developer to be used as a short-term stay hotel.

Onni Group has submitted a new rezoning application for its property at 1022 Seymour Street that seeks permission from the municipal government to convert the residential use designation in the building to commercial hotel uses. The developer uniquely owns all residential units in the building, which are stratified.

You might also like:

Duncan Wlodarczak, the chief of staff for Onni Group, told Daily Hive Urbanized all 187 units in the 20-storey, mixed-use tower have operated as an extended-stay hotel (rental) under the residential use designation since the building was completed in 2009, called Level Yaletown-Seymour.

Several years ago, the city granted approval for the initial short-term hotel use, allowing 20 units to be used for nightly stays as well, instead of only extended stays.

The new application would effectively allow for nightly stays for all units — just like a regular hotel. Extended stays can still be booked for any unit, but Level Hotels, owned by Onni, can now also fill suites on a nightly basis between extended stays to make better use of its inventory.

level yaletown seymour 1022 seymour street vancouver hotel

Level Yaletown-Seymour at 1022 Seymour Street, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Level Yaletown-Seymour at 1022 Seymour Street, Vancouver. (Level Hotels)

Level Yaletown-Seymour at 1022 Seymour Street, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

“Given the limited hotel capacity in downtown Vancouver and the city’s desire to increase hotel inventory to accommodate future tourism demand, Onni has been working with the city to apply for rezoning of this level location to allow us to welcome nightly stays for the full 187-unit inventory,” said Wlodarczak.

“With this rezoning we will continue to welcome both nightly and extended stays, based on business demand. Our existing extended stay guests are welcome to remain with us as long as they would like to continue and we can confirm no one would be displaced by the change in zoning.”

There has been a substantial decrease in the number of hotel rooms in Metro Vancouver, especially within the downtown Vancouver peninsula. Prior to the pandemic, there were 1,100 fewer hotel rooms in downtown compared to a decade earlier, before the 2010 Olympics, largely due to redevelopments and conversions of ageing properties into residential uses.

The pace of the hotel room attrition accelerated over the first two years of the pandemic, with all three levels of government engaged in a buying spree of many older and lower-rate hotel properties to provide rapid housing for the homelessness crisis.

The diminished hotel room capacity could be highly detrimental for the recovery of the region’s major tourism industry, and the resulting economic and job-supporting benefits it normally brings. It could also affect the region’s ability to attract tourism-generating conferences, conventions, special events, and sports events.

Currently, the commercial hotel uses in Level Yaletown-Seymour span 14,236 sq ft. If the rezoning application is approved by Vancouver City Council, the commercial hotel use would grow to 146,000 sq ft. No building changes are planned for the full conversion.

Level Yaletown-Seymour includes in-suite amenities such as fully equipped kitchens, in-suite laundry, free WiFi, and air conditioning. Common hotel amenities span 11,000 sq ft, including a large fitness gym and an outdoor rooftop lounge with a swimming pool.

Level Yaletown-Seymour at 1022 Seymour Street, Vancouver. (Level Hotels)

Onni is pursuing the rezoning under the municipal government’s Interim Hotel Development Policy, which was approved in 2018 by the previous city council. The policy, created to help address the hotel room shortage, protects existing hotels and encourages the development of new hotel within an area of about 15 blocks in Downtown South. However, the policy has not resulted in any major gains to date.

The building’s retail and office spaces within the three-level podium on the northern end of the block, fronting Nelson Street, will not see any changes. The retail spaces are currently occupied by Nero Waffles and 24 Train Express Noodle House, while the office levels are occupied by Onni’s corporate office.

Onni has two other Level Hotels properties in downtown Vancouver, totalling 431 units. This includes Level Yaletown-Richards at 1388 Richards Street, and the newly built Level Downtown-Howe at 1333 Howe Street, which is only available for extended stays of at least over 30 nights.

Onni also operates a Level property strategically located at Seattle’s South Lake Union district, where Amazon’s global headquarters office buildings are situated, as well as three properties in downtown Los Angeles and two properties in Chicago.

You might also like: