The planned demolition of a building in Vancouver could have major traffic impacts on drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians as road and street closures are planned.
500 Dunsmuir Street, an SRO building, is set to be demolished beginning this Friday, January 17.
It follows an assessment in December that determined the building was at a high risk of catastrophic structural collapse. If everything goes as planned, the demolition process is expected to be completed by Monday morning.
As a result of the demolition, the City of Vancouver is warning drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists to be aware of some road closures that could impact their daily commute.
Road closures will begin at noon on January 17 and end on the morning of January 20.
The road closures will be at Dunsmuir Street between Homer and Seymour streets and on Richards Street between Georgia and Pender streets.
⚠️ TRAFFIC ALERT: 500 Dunsmuir demolition
Upcoming road closures:
⛔ Dunsmuir St. between Homer St. and Seymour St.
⛔ Richards St. between W Georgia St. and Pender St.🚲🚶Expect bike lane & sidewalk closures
🕐 Jan. 17 (noon) – Jan. 20 (morning) #VanTraffic pic.twitter.com/WbM6HzQcCS
— City of Vancouver (@CityofVancouver) January 16, 2025
In a statement last week, the City said it was “disappointed that the owners of Dunsmuir House, a building with significant heritage value, neglected the building to the point where demolition became the only viable option to ensure public safety.”
Previously an SRO building with 167 units, the “Hotel Dunsmuir” building, originally a tourist hotel, was made vacant in 2013 due to its poor living conditions at the time. Holborn Properties previously intended to retain the building as a heritage component of its future major redevelopment of most of the city block, including the Hudson’s Bay parkade.
With files from Kenneth Chan