Sinclair Centre redevelopment with big federal office tower begins in 2026

Sinclair Centre redevelopment with major federal office tower begins in 2026

Existing condition of Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver. (Google Earth)

There are new signs of movement in the Government of Canada’s landmark project to redevelop its Sinclair Centre block in downtown Vancouver into a mixed-use redevelopment with very substantial office space for federal workers and service centres.

Colliers Project Leaders, the building project management division of the commercial real estate firm Colliers International, has announced it has a new arrangement with the federal government to provide P3 public-private partnership commercial and procurement advisory services. Colliers’ work will be a joint venture with Ottawa-based project management firm Tiree.

Planning for this project was first initiated about a decade ago, and it will serve to consolidate federal office space in downtown Vancouver to a Crown-owned site. The federal government will release many of its leased spaces over the next decade as a result of the creation of this new hub.

Sinclair Centre is already the location of a Services Canada Centre and Passport office.

“This hallmark redevelopment will transform Vancouver’s skyline and embed core principles that align with our own corporate values and the work we do in communities across Canada,” said Stephen Lidington, the managing director of Colliers Project Leaders and the lead P3 Advisor for Sinclair Centre.

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The partnership will help guide the federal government’s forthcoming bidding processes for securing design and construction contractors and act as an advisor for the construction and operating periods.

When complete, the Sinclair Centre redevelopment will have a total floor area of up to about 1.1 million sq ft — up from the complex’s existing total floor area of about 390,000 sq ft across the four buildings. The estimated construction cost is in excess of $500 million.

Existing condition of Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Existing condition of Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver. (Google Earth)

According to Colliers, the public-private partnership will include not only design, heritage conservation, new construction, and tenant fit-up of spaces, but also the operation and maintenance of about 118,000 sq ft of space.

Heritage preservation and seismic upgrades will be a key principle of the project, with existing buildings on the site dating back more than a century. It is expected a significant portion of the heritage elements will be preserved in the same way as Quadreal Property Group’s The Post and Credit Suisse’s The Exchange, with a base heritage podium and a vertical office space expansion.

Sinclair Centre’s future total floor area will be just slightly shy of The Post’s 1.3 million sq ft, which is the single largest office building in Vancouver.

This will also be a highly green building, constructed to a net-zero standard, and it will also “integrate Indigenous, social and cultural considerations and advance Indigenous reconciliation.”

Colliers Project Leaders provided similar consulting services for Lululemon’s project to build itself a new headquarters office building in the False Creek Flats, and it previously worked with Tiree in a joint venture to renovate and expand the West Block of Parliament Hill with a temporary space for the House of Commons. Tiree’s previous work also entails the Library and Archives Canada in Gatineau, and Canada House in London, UK.

“The project will create a modern and sustainable federal hub in Vancouver that respects heritage, historical and cultural influences,” states Colliers.

Indoor mall created by the glass atrium between historic buildings at Sinclair Centre. (Google Maps)

According to the federal government, the new Sinclair Centre will be the anchor location for centralized federal services in downtown Vancouver, and accommodate federal departments in a “modern, cost-effective and flexible workplace.”

The business case for the project is already complete, and work is ongoing on a schematic design to support the procurement process, which is expected to be performed in 2024.

In 2024, the federal government will begin the bidding process for the private-private partnership, seeking a consortium to design, build, and operate the building for 25 years. The contract will be awarded in 2025, at which point the detailed design process will begin.

Also in 2024, Sinclair Centre’s existing buildings will be vacated in preparation for the start of the “destructive inspection” phase in 2025.

Construction will begin in 2026 for completion in 2030 or 2031.

Sinclair Centre’s four buildings vary in age and architectural style, and their last major renovation was in 1986, just in time for Expo ’86, when they were restored and the outdoor spaces separating the buildings were connected by an indoor glass atrium — designed by Henriquez Partners Architects and Toby Russell Buckwell Architects.

Although this 1980s revitalization project integrating the unique buildings won architectural accolades, over the decades the commercial complex has failed to see the type of visitation and active uses expected for its prominent location.

Covered atrium in the core of Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver. (BGIS)

Entrance into the Expo Line’s SkyTrain Waterfront Station. (BGIS)

The iconic former main postal office building in the southeast quadrant of the block bears the most heritage value. Built in 1905, it has the most heritage value, deemed as the city’s best example of the Beaux-Arts classicism architectural style and distinguished by its high mansard roof and domed corner clock tower overlooking the intersection of Granville and West Hastings streets.

The 1911-built RV Winch Building on the southwest quadrant of the block was BC’s first office building with a fireproofed steel frame and reinforced concrete floors. It is one of the most ornate office buildings built during Vancouver’s Edwardian-boom years, and a number of original interior features, such as tile-work, mosaic floors, stained glass panels, and marble staircases, have survived.

At the northwest quadrant, the Customs Examining Warehouse, completed in 1913, was part of the pre-World War One program of public building construction, when there was a need for large-scale, heavily constructed warehouses to handle the federal government’s requirements for imported goods. This warehouse building had direct access to the CPR terminus tracks immediately to the north, along the waterfront side of the block.

The four buildings that create Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver. (Government of Canada)

The youngest of the buildings is situated on the northeast quadrant, next to Granville Street and closest to Waterfront Station. Built in 1937, the Public Building is deemed one of the city’s top examples of the Modern Classicism architectural style.

When complete by 2031, the new iteration of Sinclair Centre could provide a workspace for over 6,000 workers, bringing new life to the area while also introducing new and improved public spaces and integration with the surrounding public realm.

This is in addition to the three new office towers on the block immediately to the east that have a combined total floor area of about 750,000 sq ft. This includes the 25-storey tower at 601 West Hastings Street completed in 2021, the 30-storey Bosa Waterfront Centre at 320 Granville Street that will reach full completion by January 2023, and a future 28-storey office tower at 619-685 West Hastings Street.

Former Customs Examining Warehouse at Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver. (Google Maps)

The Public Building at Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver. (Google Maps)

RV Winch Building at Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Former Main Post Office Building at Sinclair Centre. (Google Maps)

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