Advocates in Vancouver's tourism sector are urging real estate giant Cadillac Fairview to include hotel rooms in its plans for a tower on a site it owns at the northeast corner of West Georgia and Howe streets.
News broke late Thursday that Cadillac Fairview has applied for city permission to demolish the former Four Seasons Hotel building on that site. This followed Cadillac Fairview conducting some renovation work on what is a 30-storey building, including a 25-storey tower. It was completed in 1976 and occupied by the Four Seasons since April of that year until friction with Cadillac Fairview prompted the hotel chain to close its hotel in January 2020.
Multiple Cadillac Fairview senior vice-presidents of retail have told BIV that the company's expectation was to have at least part of the site be a hotel. Now-retired former Cadillac Fairview executive Tom Knoepfel said that during the pandemic, and current Cadillac Fairview vice-president of retail Lillian Tummonds said that this last summer. Retail executives are involved with the project because the tower rises above and connects with the CF Pacific Centre shopping mall.
Early in 2020, Cadillac Fairview was searching for a luxury brand to run a renovated hotel on the site, with some thought to creating its own hotel brand.
Time lingered and executives repeatedly said a question was whether there would also be a residential component in the tower, and if so, how much.
Building a residential component in the tower without tearing it down could be complex because it would require building kitchens in what would be larger units.
Cadillac Fairview today sent BIV a statement that sounded as though a hotel component in a future redevelopment is likely.
"Cadillac Fairview’s plans for the new tower are aimed at bringing exciting uses to the centre, which would continue to include a hospitality offering," it said.
Tummonds did not immediately respond to BIV's request for an interview to clarify what her company plans to do with the site.
The vision for the future tower may wind up somewhat resembling one that was used on a site across Howe Street, where Delta Land Development Ltd. spent an estimated $500 million to redevelop what is now the Rosewood Hotel Georgia as well as a 50-storey residential tower that also has some office space. Further renovations to the Rosewood Hotel Georgia took place in early 2024.
"It's just a great site for a hotel," Tourism Industry Association of B.C. CEO Walt Judas told BIV Friday.
"If they have a component that adds meeting room space, most definitely that's helpful for sure."
He said more hotel rooms are "desperately" needed not only in Vancouver but across Metro Vancouver and the province.
Judas pointed to the recent trio of Taylor Swift concerts at BC Place, and how demand for hotel rooms surged to the point that basic hotel rooms were being rented for more than $1,000 apiece.
While there is not sufficient time for Cadillac Fairview to complete its project in time for the 2026 World Cup, Judas said that Vancouver's role hosting seven games in that global soccer spectacle has the potential to encourage more visitors to the region. That in turn would push up demand for hotel rooms.
Destination Vancouver CEO Royce Chwin is part of a working group tasked with identifying how to lure hotel management companies or owners as well as which locations in the region would be ideal for new hotels.
"We need to add rooms to our Vancouver inventory, not take them away," he told BIV in a text.
"It would be great to see this property be reenvisioned into a hotel once again."
Demand for hotel rooms in Metro Vancouver pushed the average room rate in July to the highest price point ever seen in a major Canadian city, in previous month: $358.35 per night.
Despite that, or perhaps driving those sky-high prices, Metro Vancouver had the highest occupancy levels for any metropolitan region in Canada in that month.
Data for the region has been trending toward higher hotel-room rates and occupancy for years, and it has set off a development boom as developers navigate zoning, permits and financing that can be trickier to get than for residential or office projects.
Data collectors at Lodging Econometrics in August counted a record-high 59 hotel projects underway across the province that are expected to provide 8,439 new rooms when complete.
Of those, 21 were in Metro Vancouver, down from a record-high 23 hotel projects in the region in early 2024, Lodging Econometrics senior vice-president JP Ford told BIV.
He said in September that those 21 projects include six under construction, two slated to start construction in 2025 and 13 in the early planning phases.
Some of the projects include:
- Marcon’s plan to build a 578-room, 32-storey hotel at 516-534 West Pender St. and 509 Richards St.;
- Bosa Properties Inc.'s plan to build two hotels and have a combined 400 rooms at 888 West Broadway;
- Bosa Properties’ redevelopment of the 129-room Listel Hotel on Robson Street into a mixed-use development with a 174-room hotel and 126 residential units;
- Amacon’s project converting an office building at 1144 Burrard St. into a hotel that has approximately 70 rooms;
- Amacon's project building a 120-room hotel at 150 Robson St.;
- A 30-storey, 393-room tower at 848 Seymour St. that involves Paul Y. Construction, Forme Development and Perkins & Will Architects;
- Deecorp Properties' project at 717 Davie St.—a street address that does not currently exist but which is where the Cold Tea Restaurant is situated, at Granville Street; and
- QWID Capital Partners' project to build a hotel in Chinatown, next to the Keefer Bar.
