Practically the only thing about Granville Island that business owners, consultants and politicians can agree on is that change is inevitable.
The 38-acre peninsula’s largest tenant, Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECUAD), plans to vacate 195,000 square feet of space in two buildings and move to a new site on Great Northern Way in January 2017.
That’s more than 20% of the total square footage on the peninsula, which means that new tenants could dramatically alter the culture of the tourist attraction that draws an estimated 10 million visitors each year.
Consultants at CitySpaces Consulting, DA Architects and Altus Group outlined their vision for future peninsula tenants in a report released last month.
Their biggest worry was that the loss of ECUAD will “exacerbate” the perception that the peninsula lacks “youthful vitality,” and their report was largely aimed at ways to attract young adults.
“There should be educational institutions here,” said Robert Simpson, who owns a Liberty Wine Merchants store on the peninsula and recently opened the multimillion-dollar Liberty Distillery. “It’s great to have students.”
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has discussed creating a museum dedicated to former cancer activist and athlete Terry Fox or to have the Vancouver Maritime Museum move to Granville Island, but those ideas have little traction.
Simpson likes the consultants’ recommendation to use the 62,700-square-foot ground floor of the larger of the current ECUAD buildings as a space for food-oriented businesses. Inside the waterfront-facing building would be a brew pub, winery, eateries and a commissary that can be rented to food producers.
But Edible Canada owner Eric Pateman said other sectors should be given priority.
“They should look for a technology company or animation studio, which would pay a substantial amount of rent, as opposed to artists who are looking for subsidized space,” Pateman said.
Housing is another option for achieving nighttime traffic and higher-income consumers, he said.
“I didn’t like the consultants’ idea of a commissary,” Pateman said. “I’ve seen companies build them and their economic viability is questionable. Then the question is: how is it funded if it is not subsidized?”
New Leaf Creative Solutions owner Peter Braune also has concerns about the consultants’ recommendations, but he favours keeping the space for making art.
“The building already has about 30 different ventilation systems,” he said.
“There are ones for ceramics, woodworking, printmaking, photography, drawing and painting. The school is a perfect place for artists because it’s already built that way.”
Tenants, however, are not exactly lining up to take the ECUAD space.
One rumoured tenant was Capilano University, but spokeswoman Borjana Slipicevic told BIV that her institution has no interest in opening a campus on Granville Island. •
