Park Board selects TacoLoco-Charqui concept for Coal Harbour waterfront restaurant | Daily Hive

Vancouver Park Board selects TacoLoco and Charqui concept to open new Coal Harbour waterfront restaurant

Former TAP Shack space at Harbour Green Park. (Tap & Barrel)

A vacant restaurant space on the Coal Harbour waterfront in Downtown Vancouver is expected to reopen in Spring 2027 under the operator of two established Kitsilano eateries.

During their final scheduled public meeting of the current term in late July, Vancouver Park Board commissioners approved Park Board staff’s request to negotiate a lease with Sanjay Pandey, operator of TacoLoco and Charqui. As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, the Park Board conducted a competitive bidding process to find a new restaurant tenant for the space.

The selected new restaurant concept would combine TacoLoco’s fast-casual Mexican street food with Charqui’s neighbourhood gastropub format, creating two distinct dining options within the prominent commercial restaurant unit at Harbour Green Park.

This restaurant space has been empty since TAPshack closed in 2023. Before Tap & Barrel operated the space, the unit was occupied by Mill Marine Bistro.

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The location sits beneath the grand staircase at the foot of Bute Street, facing the park’s public plaza and large water spray feature. The main restaurant and kitchen area spans approximately 1,700 sq. ft., not including its storage, washroom and other back-of-house areas.

Former TAP Shack space at Harbour Green Park. (Google Maps)

Menu items from both TacoLoco and Charqui

Under the chosen concept, an express window will provide quicker takeaway service for seawall users, nearby office workers, and commuters. An indoor lounge and patio will accommodate customers looking for a more conventional sit-down gastropub experience.

Plans call for the purpose-designed overhaul of the space include the incorporation of natural materials, warm lighting, a central bar, and indoor lounge seating. The improvements are also intended to make the recessed area beneath the public staircase more visible and active, contributing additional pedestrian traffic to the surrounding plaza.

Like other privately-operated restaurant businesses that lease space on municipally-owned property, the operator will be responsible for the full cost of renovating, equipping, staffing and operating the restaurant, with no financial contribution required from the Park Board.

The sample menu submitted to the Park Board includes street tacos, burritos, and bowls under the TacoLoco concept. Charqui’s proposed offerings include chicken wings, ceviche poke, ventless “faux-fried” calamari, a burger, and a B.C. wild pink salmon rice plate, along with beer, wine, margaritas and non-alcoholic drinks.

The operator intends to position the venue as a comfortable neighbourhood gathering place during the colder months and a busier waterfront patio destination throughout the spring and summer.

tacoloco harbour green park coal harbour

Potential concept of TacoLoco/Charqui at Harbour Green Park. (Sanjay Pandey)

Former TAP Shack space at Harbour Green Park. (Tap & Barrel)

Former TAP Shack space at Harbour Green Park. (Google Maps)

Pandey has nearly 20 years of experience in the food and beverage industry. His proposal received the highest overall score among four eligible submissions received through the eight-week competitive bidding process earlier this year.

Lease negotiations still need to be completed before the agreement becomes legally binding. The proposed structure consists of an initial five-year term followed by two optional five-year renewals, allowing the operator to remain for up to 15 years.

The bidding requirements called for the Park Board to receive the greater of a fixed annual rent of at least $90,000 or no less than 6.5 per cent of the restaurant’s gross food and beverage revenue. The operator would also make a payment in place of property taxes. Park Board staff expect the revenue paid to the municipal government to rise gradually over the life of the lease.

Potential secondary purpose of a passenger lounge for CIRQL Ferries

The concept has also been designed around the planned future passenger ferry service from the dock immediately outside the restaurant.

CIRQL Ferries, formerly known as Greenline Ferries, is planning to operate passenger-only vessels from the dock at Harbour Green Park to Bowen Island and the Sunshine Coast. The service could generate significant additional pedestrian traffic in the area, with 150-seat vessels making up to seven round trips per day, year-round, from an upgraded dock adjacent to the plaza fronting the restaurant.

According to Park Board staff, Pandey’s restaurant concept could include digital screens to display CIRQL Ferries’ live departure information, offer takeaway meals and ferry passenger promotions, and serve as a waiting lounge before boarding.

Similarly, east of this park area, Hullo Ferries partnered with the nearby Mahony’s Tavern to create a lounge-in-a-restaurant amenity concept for its passengers waiting for a high-speed ferry sailing to Nanaimo. This includes providing passengers with a special menu and exclusive pricing.

CIRQL Ferries’ lease of municipal property will also generate revenue for the municipal government, with the City initially receiving $1 per passenger. The ferry service could launch in 2028.

Potential concept of the new Harbour Green Dock in downtown Vancouver for CIRQL Ferries. (CIRQL Ferries)

cirql ferries coal harbour green dock downtown vancouver

Potential concept of the new Harbour Green Dock in downtown Vancouver for CIRQL Ferries. (CIRQL Ferries)

Artistic rendering of CIRQL Ferries’ battery-electric passenger ferry vessel. (CIRQL Ferries/BMT)

The Park Board’s Harbour Green Park restaurant space was originally designed by Besharat-Friars Architects and constructed by Marathon Development, which also built nearby condominium towers and waterfront amenities, including the park’s dock.

The exact restaurant opening date will depend on the completion of lease negotiations, detailed design work, and permitting, as well as the construction timeline.

This restaurant is separate from the long-stalled project for a much larger destination restaurant at the easternmost end of Harbour Green Park, within a space incorporated into the Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building. The Park Board selected Sequoia Company of Restaurants and McDougall Holdings to pursue that project in 2015, but construction had still not begun when the latest Harbour Green Park bidding process was launched.

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