The Rec Room opens, marking the start of Granville strip's revival | Daily Hive

The Rec Room opens, marking the start of Granville Entertainment District's revival

Previous concept depiction of the 800 Granville Street redevelopment (left) and the exterior of the newly opened The Rec Room Granville at 850 Granville Street (right). (Perkins&Will/Bonnis Properties | Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Last week, downtown Vancouver’s Granville Entertainment District welcomed a fresh addition to its storied history with the long-awaited opening of The Rec Room Granville, which is deemed to be Western Canada’s flagship location for Cineplex’s chain of entertainment and dining centres.

This new 45,000 sq ft destination spanning three levels is already drawing crowds with its wide mix of arcade games, virtual reality, miniature golf, live music, bars, and food and beverage options.

Up until 2012, this mid-block Granville Street property at 850 Granville Street, just south of Robson Street, was home to Empire Granville 7 theatres. Left vacant, the former cinema complex site then saw no active uses for more than a decade, including the prolonged five-year-long construction timeline for The Rec Room — due in part to the impacts of the pandemic and the complexities associated with retaining and restoring century-plus-old heritage building facades.

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When construction first began in January 2020, the plan was to open The Rec Room Granville in late 2021.

Although it has taken much longer to achieve, The Rec Room is a symbol of positive change for Granville Street, marking a big step in the right direction.

Inside The Rec Room Granville. (Hanna McLean/Daily Hive)

Inside The Rec Room Granville. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Inside The Rec Room Granville. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Cineplex, City officials, and the business community are banking on The Rec Room to drive new pedestrian traffic and set the tone for the Granville strip’s future transformation into a modern, inclusive, and thriving entertainment destination.

“The Rec Room is all about making time to have fun and connect, and we are excited to bring that energy to the Granville strip. We see this location as a positive step forward for the area and look forward to contributing to the continued growth and vibrancy of this iconic street,” Kevin Watts, executive vice president of Exhibition and LBE for Cineplex, told Daily Hive Urbanized.

The multi-faceted destination can accommodate up to well over 1,000 visitors at any given time.

In a sense, The Rec Room mirrors and complements the longtime major entertainment destinations immediately across the street — the Commodore Ballroom and the Commodore Billiards.

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The Rec Room Granville at 850 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

“It’s exciting to see Cineplex’s investment in Granville Street and their decision to locate their signature flagship The Rec Room concept in the heart of the area. It’s a testament to the priority we are putting on revitalizing the Granville Entertainment District, and it will bring in people and fresh energy,” Vancouver city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung told Daily Hive Urbanized.

Joshua Davidson, director of operations of Downtown Van (the local business improvement association of downtown Vancouver), added, “Downtown Van is thrilled to welcome The Rec Room to the Granville Entertainment District. This exciting new addition will play a key role in the ongoing revitalization of the area. By seamlessly blending entertainment, dining, and social experiences, The Rec Room is set to become a must-visit attraction for both locals and visitors alike.”

Revised application soon for 800 Granville Street redevelopment

One of the Granville strip’s largest property owners and stakeholders is Kerry Bonnis, whose family owns and operates Bonnis Properties.

They own 800 Granville Street — nearly the entire city block just across from The Rec Room, including the Commodore Ballrooms and Commodore Billiards.

Over the years, Bonnis has been one of the biggest proponents of the revitalization of the Granville Entertainment District, which he says involves reintroducing significant daytime uses — such as office, restaurants, retail, hotels, services and broader types of entertainment — instead of merely focusing on the nighttime-focused businesses.

Essentially, the principles for revival are to introduce uses that attract people at all times of the day.

“Everyone wants to see a more dynamic core, and I think The Rec Room is one more thing that helps move it in that direction,” Bonnis told Daily Hive Urbanized in an interview last week.

“I think for a long time, people have just equated the entertainment found on Granville Street being synonymous with nightclubs and bars, but historically, it was much more than that. The direction that all of us are hoping to take it will be to have far more diverse uses, different times of the day, help stimulate what used to be a nighttime economy there with more retailers staying open and later.”

This mantra was clearly reflected in the original vision for Bonnis Properties’ 800 Granville Street proposal, which centred on a significant mixed-use development where office space was the primary component. However, the proposal faced setbacks, initially due to opposition from City staff over concerns about the building’s shadowing impacts, and later due to the pandemic’s negative impact on the demand for new office space.

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Previous design, not the forthcoming revised concept; August 2021 artistic rendering of 800 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins&Will/Bonnis Properties)

In April 2024, Bonnis told Daily Hive Urbanized that his proposal for 800 Granville Street was going back to the drawing board, with significant revisions to address the evolving demand for office space.

Now into late 2024, his team and architectural firm Perkins&Will are getting close to completing a new draft detailed design. When ready, they are expected to submit a revised application that replaces their November 2022 formal rezoning application submission, which was never formally cancelled or withdrawn.

“We’ve been working collaboratively with the City. And so, we’ve updated and revised our proposal and we’re working through the process now,” he continued. “We’re excited to hopefully get that forward to City Council soon.”

The original concept’s significant retail, restaurant, and entertainment uses — including the full retention of the Commodore Ballroom and Commodore Billiards — within the base levels would essentially remain the same in the forthcoming revised design, including major restaurant uses on the fourth/fifth levels overlooking the street. He says even more outdoor dining uses have now been added within the upper levels of the base podium.

The original concept incorporated 97,300 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses and 86,000 sq ft of cultural and entertainment uses, including the preservation of the heritage facades within the northern half of the development site.

Previous design, not the forthcoming revised concept; August 2021 artistic rendering of 800 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins&Will/Bonnis Properties)

Although the original concept featured large office floor plates spanning nearly the entire length of the city block, the forthcoming revised design takes a different approach. The upper floors have now been reconfigured, introducing a physical separation that creates two distinct towers above a base podium.

While the original concept’s density was achieved horizontally, the forthcoming revised design redistributes some of that density vertically — now made possible for the 800 Granville Street site by Vancouver City Council’s July 2024 decision to relax some of the municipal government’s highly restrictive protected mountain view cone policies, which limited building heights.

“We’re excited with the direction the City is going with removing some of the onerous view cones. There’s going to be greater heights and density, and in the end, it all boils down to statistics and density. The more people we have down on the street level and above the street level, the greater ridership we get on public transit,” Bonnis told Daily Hive Urbanized.

Part of the initial rationale for the expansive office floor plates was to attract large office-based businesses, such as tech giants, which had shown significant interest in major open office spaces before the pandemic, when the original design was conceived. Additionally, the previous concept achieved its density horizontally rather than vertically to comply with the restrictive view cone regulations affecting the site.

This previous concept had 468,000 sq ft of office space within the upper levels. Instead, Bonnis says they are now looking to pivot most of this office density into secured purpose-built market rental housing and hotel uses. He says the emerging concepts for the forthcoming revised design should lead to the creation of over 500 rental homes and a hotel with approximately 120 to 150 guest rooms.

He states that if the future hotel operator desires, there is potential to add even more hotel rooms within the available space. Hotel uses not only complement the entertainment district, but also help alleviate Vancouver’s growing shortage of hotel rooms.

Previous design, not the forthcoming revised concept; August 2021 artistic rendering of 800 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins&Will/Bonnis Properties)

There would still be an office space component within the forthcoming revised design, but nowhere near the scope of the original concept, with much smaller office floor plates now being introduced. But he also hinted that this remaining office space component could potentially be further reduced if there is greater interest in its alternative use as additional retail space, given Bonnis Properties’ expertise and success with leasing stacked multi-level retail spaces.

“We kept the first vision’s intended uses and added the two uses of rental housing and hotel, which will only add to the diversity and the dynamics of the project,” he added.

950 Granville Street, Winners, Nordstrom’s future, and Granville Street planning

Following the opening of The Rec Room, the next biggest boost for the Granville strip will be the mixed-use commercial-only development of 950 Granville Street — another project by Bonnis Properties.

This new four-storey, 63,000 sq ft building — situated one city block to the south of The Rec Room, adjacent to The Roxy Cabaret, and spanning the length of nearly half a block — reached completion earlier this fall, and its first businesses are expected to open this winter.

About 17,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses have been built into the ground level of 950 Granville Street, which is also designed by Perkins&Will. These commercial units have been leased to businesses such as Taco Bell, Rice and Noodle, Pizza Garden, and Parsley Berlin Style Doner-Kebab.

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950 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Within the upper three levels, 950 Granville Street contains roughly 45,000 sq ft of office space, including two entire office levels each leased to Cornerstone International Education and the federal government’s new Canada Passport Office serving downtown Vancouver.

The new Passport Office at 950 Granville Street is expected to attract up to over 600 people daily, bringing new daytime foot traffic to the entrainment district.

“The more activity there is — whether it’s people visiting The Rec Room, picking up their passports, dining at old-school mom-and-pop eateries, or shopping at small and large retailers — we believe that increased density and diverse uses will greatly benefit the street and the downtown economy. We’re really excited about it all,” Bonnis told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“With these new businesses, it is great because it brings people back into the core, it brings them back to the Granville strip, and they can see that there is change being made.”

Over the past year, Bonnis listed for sale the two commercial-only properties of 950 Granville Street and 798 Granville Street, as a potential strategy to free up some capital for other new development projects. Both properties are still listed in the market.

But Bonnis hinted that there is always the possibility that they could reverse their plans to dispose of these properties.

“A lot of people still want to be in downtown Vancouver. So, you know, nothing’s set in stone. It’s always good to reevaluate and see how things are at,” said Bonnis about the matter of selling these major properties on the Granville strip.

“Things can change. Given the trajectory of Granville Street and the core moving forward, Downtown Van, downtown business owners, and the City, everybody’s really excited to revamp and make the city core a lot more interesting and economically moving forward.”

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The three-storey retail building at 798 Granville Street (on Robson Street), home to Best Buy and the future Marshalls store. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Best Buy, and until recently Winners, serve as anchor tenants for 798 Granville Street — a three-storey retail building located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Granville Street and Robson Street.

In October 2024, Winners relocated to the Bonnis Properties-owned The Hudson mixed-use building at 660 Granville Street, opening within a larger 40,000 sq ft store spanning two levels within the former Steve Nash fitness gym space. This relocated store is adjacent to SkyTrain Granville Station and the Hudson’s Bay department store.

Bonnis says it has had great feedback from Winners that the new store is doing “extremely well.”

The closure of Winners at 798 Granville Street creates only a temporary void, as Marshalls is set to take over the third-level space above Best Buy in March 2025. Both Marshalls and Winners are similar off-price clothing, apparel, and house goods retailers, owned and operated by the same parent company of TJX Companies.

Bonnis also noted that the redevelopment potential of 798 Granville Street recently improved from City Council’s recent changes to the view cone policies, enabling greater height for the site.

Just across the street from Best Buy and Marshalls, the future use of the vacant three-level, 230,000-square-foot former Nordstrom space by Cadillac Fairview will play an important role in shaping the Granville strip’s revival. According to Bonnis, the former Nordstrom space at CF Pacific Centre mall will be divided and reconfigured into three or four new retail tenancies. No formal announcements have been made for this space at CF Pacific Centre, but such a multi-tenant reconfiguration has already been confirmed for CF Toronto Eaton Centre, where Simons, an Eataly food hall, and a flagship Nike store will open.

Previous space of Nordstrom at CF Pacific Centre in downtown Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

More broadly, a framework for the Granville Entertainment District’s transformation will soon be created by the municipal government, identifying new policies intended to help catalyze new redevelopments with office, hotel, retail, restaurant, and a wider range of entertainment uses, as well as public space improvements.

“The City’s planning department is working on the Granville Street new policy,” said Bonnis. “There are big senior staff changes in the City. And, you know, our mayor and city council, everybody is [a] great proponent for change.”

The area planing process for the Granville Entertainment District was originally triggered by the 800 Granville Street redevelopment proposal.

In Spring 2025, City staff are expected to return to City Council with a final area plan for approval.

“I’m very excited to see our new Granville Street policies coming forward to Council soon that will be focused on creating the right conditions and enabling new investment in entertainment, retail and hotel uses that will kickstart a modernized destination street, and build on the legacy of our storied entertainment district,” said Kirby-Yung.

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The Rec Room Granville. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

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