Vancouver Office Tower to Boutique Hotel

0:00It's April 6th. Welcome to Vancouver News today, powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story. Developers from Baneh Capital and Arno Matisse Architecture just flipped the script on their Vancouver Project at 852-872. Seymour Street They ditched plans for a seven-story office tower and now want to build a 15-story boutique hotel with 151 rooms. This comes after the city okayed the original office idea back in June 2022. The switch makes sense with the downtown office scene tanking hard. Vacancy rates are sky high, demand is low and building a compact office on this tight lot just doesn't pencil out financially. Work habits have shifted too. Companies want big open floors and folks aren't flocking to downtown offices like before. Vancouver's herding for hotel rooms big time. Occupancy hits over 90% in peak season. Rates are way above average and data shows 1,674 rooms at risk of

1:02vanishing soon. The city rolled out a policy this year to spark more builds aiming for 10,000 new rooms by 2050 to boost tourism, film, tech and more. On this site they'll save the facade of the 1926 Great War Veterans Association Hall, rehab it for shops and such while tearing down a vacant one-story spot next door from 1971. It's a nod to history with a fresh economic twist. This rezoning push highlights how market vibes are reshaping Vancouver Skyline, one hotel at a time, keeping the city buzzing for visitors and locals. Aliben.