This is the proposed master plan to redevelop Metropolis at Metrotown mall

Nearly five years after Ivanhoe Cambridge conducted its initial public consultation on the long-term phased demolition and redevelopment of Metropolis at Metrotown shopping mall, it has now created a draft master plan for what will become one of Metro Vancouver’s largest and most prominent redevelopments ever.

The latest concept builds on what the Montreal-based real estate developer, owned by Quebec crown corporation Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), first presented in 2019 as its vision for redevelopment. Further planning and consultation after the initial 2019 consultation was delayed due to the pandemic.

Ivanhoe Cambridge manages the real estate portfolio of the Quebec Pension Fund, and in recent years they have been looking to diversify their real estate interests — away from solely commercial uses — and exploring mixed-use development opportunities of their shopping malls.

The April 2024 public consultation development reveals greater and revised details for the Metrotown redevelopment, including the pedestrian-oriented layout, new public spaces and roadways, mixed uses, and potential tower heights.

Existing condition:

Future condition:

The first phase of the 35-acre redevelopment will span between 2025 and 2054 within seven parcels in the northwest, southwest, southeast, and eastern parts of the Ivanhoe Cambridge-owned mall site. These seven parcels include sites that directly front Kingsway, Central Boulevard, and Bennett Street — replacing Hudson’s Bay, the existing bus loop, surface vehicle parking lots, and above-ground parkades.

An on-street bus exchange next to SkyTrain Metrotown Station is anticipated to replace the existing bus loop.

The existing indoor mall will be largely left intact until 2054; the remaining phases of redeveloping the remaining mall parcels will occur after 2054, coinciding with the expiration of the leases of major anchor tenants.

Existing condition:

Future condition:

Upon full buildout, there would be up to 24 towers, with many of these buildings qualifying as the tallest in Metro Vancouver if they existed today.

The site’s current indoor mall retail configuration would largely be replaced by retail/restaurant uses within the lower levels of the new buildings, which would activate the new public streets. This entails the extensions of McMurray Avenue, Sussex Avenue, and Kingsborough Street through the site to create new large city blocks for development parcels.

“Sussex Avenue becomes an extension of the Beresford Art Walk. Kingsborough Street, due to its location and orientation, is proposed to be the green connector that will link the site and its users to the parks and open space beyond the boundaries of Metropolis,” reads the concept description.

“Pedestrian permeability is further improved by introducing indoor/outdoor connectivity through the shopping centre, where internal spaces start to function as indoor streets and provide convenient and unique linkages.”

The largest new block framed by public streets will be situated within the core of the site, where there will be a new, smaller indoor mall, which will be built after 2054.

As can be expected, the vast majority of the total building floor area will be dedicated to condominiums and secured purpose-built rental housing.

Ivanhoe Cambridge previously told Daily Hive Urbanized their mall redevelopment would generate at least 15,000 homes. In contrast, the Jericho Lands in Vancouver’s West Point Grey neighbourhood will see 13,000 homes for up to 24,000 people on a land area about three times the size of the mall.

As can be expected, the mall’s existing three office towers — the original 1989-built Metrotower I and Metrotower II and the 2014-built Metrotower III — will be retained. The master plan calls for the potential of a significant fourth office tower, office uses within the base podium of some buildings, and a hotel tower.

Existing condition:

Future condition:

On the western side of the site, adjacent to Station Square, a major new public park will be created, taking up the footprint of a sizeable new city block. Altogether, there will be over five acres of public parks, event-friendly plazas, and open spaces, along with extensive landscaping — with a goal to reach 20% tree coverage for the entire site — and public art.

One of the largest new public plazas would replace the existing plaza outside the three Metrotowers — a new terraced “Watershed Plaza” at the northeast corner of the future intersection of Sussex Avenue and Central Boulevard, which would serve as a gateway into the area from the adjacent SkyTrain Metrotown Station and be designed for events.

According to the concept, Central Boulevard through the area will function as “Main Street” for Burnaby’s new downtown of the Metrotown area.

This area along Central Boulevard near the existing bus loop is also being eyed for a potential events and convention centre. A study previously conducted by the municipal government estimated such a venue could carry a cost of $460 million.

Overall, Ivanhoe Cambridge’s latest revised redevelopment concept aligns with the City of Burnaby’s 2019-approved Metrotown Downtown Plan, which first outlined how the mall site and surrounding areas will be redeveloped and transformed into Burnaby’s city centre — differentiating itself from Burnaby’s four other town centres. Ivanhoe Cambridge’s current planning process is in itself guided by the City’s wider area plan.

One of the few major differences between Ivanhoe Cambridge’s proposed master plan and the City’s 2017 area plan for the wider area is the creation of larger city blocks, which would enable the creation of a new indoor mall. In contrast, the City’s area plan called for more public streets to create much more of a porous street grid on the former mall site, but this would limit development potential.

After further refinements, Ivanhoe Cambridge’s master plan will be presented to Burnaby City Council for approval. The master plan will subsequently be used to guide future applications for the multi-phased redevelopment over the decades.

Existing condition:

Future condition:

Ivanhoe Cambridge’s 35 acres accounts for the vast majority of the Metropolis at Metrotown mall footprint. The remaining nine acres of the mall — fronting Kingsway at the northeast corner of the site — are owned by Concord Pacific, which acquired the site from Sears in 2015.

Concord Pacific is expected to reach completion on the first phase of Concord Metrotown — the eastern half of the mall parcel it owns — in 2025, replacing surface vehicle parking lots. This entails three towers with about 1,400 condominium homes and 30,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses within buildings reaching 65 storeys, 45 storeys, and 33 storeys. The tallest of these trio of towers is 755 ft, making it considerably taller than downtown Vancouver’s Living Shangri-La and one of Metro Vancouver’s future tallest buildings.

In Fall 2023, the municipal government approved Concord Pacific’s application to redevelop the western half of the mall parcel it owns into five mixed-use towers. This redevelopment of the western half of the mall will remove surface vehicle parking lots and demolish an indoor mall wing that includes Toys ‘R Us and the former Sears department store. This western half parcel of Concord Metrotown would entail three towers between 40 storeys and 58 storeys with condominium, rental housing, and retail/restaurant uses along Kingsway, and two towers on the former Sears/Toys ‘R Us footprint, including a 644-ft-tall, 60-storey rental housing tower and a 47-storey office tower — all above a base podium with retail/restaurant uses and a new major entrance into the existing/future indoor mall. A portion of the office space could potentially see hotel uses.

Initially constructed in the late 1980s as separate shopping centre properties, Metropolis is Ivanhoe Cambridge’s “crown jewel” of retail holdings. It is one of Canada’s largest and top-performing shopping malls.

Metropolis at Metrotown mall has over 1.7 million sq ft of floor area, with about 450 stores and brands, including a dozen anchor stores, and over 8,000 vehicle parking stalls. It is estimated nearly 80,000 people visit the mall to work, shop, and dine on average each day.

Other major retail properties owned by Ivanhoe Cambridge include Calgary’s The CORE and CrossIron Mills, Edmonton’s Southgate Centre, and Montreal Eaton Centre. Ivanhoe Cambridge ended its ownership of Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre in 2017 and Tsawwassen Mills in 2022.

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