Tall & Urban News

What was once the site of a multi-level parking garage with a few office levels on the top floors of the structure is now a large, deep pit in the ground.

Construction is well underway on the redevelopment of 1133 Melville Street in downtown Vancouver into The Stack—a 533-foot-tall (162-meter), 38-story office tower with 540,000 square feet (50,167 square meters) of AAA-class office space.

Toronto-based developer Oxford Properties held a ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony today for the project, which is set to potentially be the tallest office building in the city, and one of the largest office developments currently being built in the latest office building boom.

“We are incredibly proud of this project and its contribution to the Vancouver skyline,” said Eric Plesman, the executive vice-president of the North America division of Oxford, during the groundbreaking.

“Breaking ground here reinforces Oxford’s commitment to Vancouver, one that is demonstrated by its longstanding ownership and many of its greatest properties…We are excited to be a part of Vancouver’s story, one of the best markets in Canada and a core market for Oxford globally.”

The tower’s large, open floor plates are designed for large corporate firms, particularly tech, digital media, and creative companies.

Confirmed anchor tenants include Ernst & Young (E&Y) taking up 60,000 square feet (5,574 square meters), law firm Blakes taking up 80,000 square feet (7,432 square meters), and law firm DLA Piper taking up 67,000 square feet (6,225 square meters) within the top two “boxes” of the building. All three companies already have a major presence in downtown Vancouver: E&Y has an existing office at TD Tower, Blakes is at Three Bentall Centre, and DLA Piper is at Park Place.

These companies have leased the entirety of the top two boxes of the new building—between floors 19 and 36. Restaurant and retail spaces are situated on the ground level.

Vancouver-based architect James Cheng explained that his design of a twisting stack of varying sized boxes is inspired by the context of the surrounding buildings, providing different heights and form and creating unique amenity spaces for the tenants.

The tower has a total of six outdoor decks and a large rooftop patio with views of the city, harbor, and mountains.

“By rotating the stack, we’re actually creating outdoor spaces, so more people inside the building can enjoy it. They have more outdoor and social spaces,” said Cheng.

The tower is aiming for a LEED Platinum green standard target, and it will be one of two towers in Canada to be a part of the Net-Zero Carbon pilot. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2022.

In exchange for the City of Vancouver’s approval of the project, Oxford is also providing CA$50 million (US$38 million) to the municipal government for its community amenity contribution.

Oxford’s other properties in downtown Vancouver include the recently-completed MNP Tower. The company is also developing 1.1 million square feet (102,193 square meters) of industrial space at its Riverbend Business Park in Burnaby.

For more on this story, go to Urbanized.