The Mount Pleasant neighbourhood will soon add a major gaming firm to what is becoming a high-tech hub in Vancouver.
Relic Entertainment, one of Vancouver’s oldest gaming companies, will move to a new head office at 285 West 5 Avenue, the former Hudson Plating site. PC Urban Properties Corp. will transform the once low-density, heavy industrial site into a 71,000 square-foot office building. Relic will be leasing 47,000 square feet. Other space will be leased to other tech and light-industrial tenants.
“Mount Pleasant [is] an area where we have been transforming a number of formerly heavy industrial sites into places of employment for the industries of the future,” said PC Urban principal, Brent Sawchyn.
The former metal plating site – directly across from BIV’s offices – has been undergoing environment remedial work for more than year.
Relic began to look for a new headquarters in 2016 that could allow the 20-year old company to grow their employees from 180 to up to 350.
"Selecting the future home of the studio was a complicated process,” said Relic general manager Justin Dowdeswell. “We worked hard to find the right space, the right neighbourhood, the right partner, and the right location for staff – down to charting every employee’s journey to the office."
Following a 2014 City of Vancouver zoning change that allowed higher-density mixed-use commercial use, Mount Pleasant has seen a number of older industrial buildings repurposed for office and light industrial use.
Vancouver tech giant Hootsuite, with developer Westbank, is currently expanding its presence in Mount Pleasant to a block-big campus on East 4Avenue and Main Street that will include approximately 140,000 square feet of mixed-use digital industry and office space.
“We’re seeing a whole new class of businesses springing up in the neighborhood like craft breweries, commissary kitchens, tech, visual effects and fashion,” said Colliers International vice-president Dan Jordan.
Relic will move into its new headquarters in summer 2019.
