VANCOUVER – Vancouver’s landmark Harbour Centre is the latest high-profile downtown property to be up for a makeover – a multimillion-dollar one that will freshen and brighten up the 35-year-old icon to contemporary consumer expectations, say its managers.
Harbour Centre still has appeal, attracting 165,000 visitors annually to its famed 360-degree Lookout observation deck. Nonetheless, its glamour is worn and tired. “It needs a substantial facelift. It needs rebranding,” Norman Pearl, senior vice-president of Polaris Realty Canada Ltd., says bluntly.
Renos, to start in spring 2013, will include dramatic upgrades to the food court and streetscape. Ceilings will be higher, lounge spaces wider. “We have to satisfy our current constituencies by creating a state-of-the-art design comparable to those of national-brand retailers,” Pearl explains.
Those using Harbour Centre regularly include shoppers, employees working in its 28-storey office tower, and Simon Fraser University students and faculty. Then there are the 130,000 people within a one-kilometre radius of the Centre. They’re a natural customer base Pearl doesn’t want to lose because of dated décor and amenities – and because of some newer, flashier building down the street.
Out: fast-food outlets featuring anachronistic menus of hamburgers, hotdogs and sugar-laden pop drinks. “People’s expectations have evolved. They are more demanding. Now we’ll be offering sushi, salad bars, juice bars, international cuisine,” says Pearl.
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When the renos are complete in late 2013, visitors will be able to choose from 14 food vendors in the new, 600-seat, 17,000 square-foot eating and common-area space. They’ll have access to complimentary Wi-Fi, not to mention a digital directory, and roomier washrooms.
Pearl acknowledges rents will go up in the posh new digs, though he won’t specify how much. Polaris has given existing tenants until the end of March, per their contracts, to vacate. Pearl expects some to leave sooner, “and hopefully go on to other things.”
One of the new tenants will be Dollarama, occupying approximately 11,000 square feet. “Dollarama is one of the fastest-growing retail chains,” says Pearl. “Its appeal transcends all people. Everyone goes to Dollarama, for a kid’s birthday party, or some knick-knack. It’ll be a traffic generator for the food court.”
Another traffic generator is lighting – nuanced lights, as opposed to full-blast ones piercing every corner. “The owners challenged us to do something different here,” says Gerry Shinkewski, principal with SSDG Interiors, which worked on the design with DA Architects + Planners. “Different in a good sense, as in, ‘Hey, have you seen … ?’ We’re going for a dappled effect, like dappled sunlight in a forest.”
Don’t knock it – designers have found that a harmonic effect with lighting and colour creates an emotional response in people. Done right, lighting brings them in and brings them back. “We’re heading to new directions of what food courts can be: the other place in a person’s life, as opposed to work and home. The place people come because of food and ambience,” says Shinkewski.
With so much that’s shiny and new downtown, a property has mere seconds to attract visitors, he says. “In the blink of an eye, an impression is made, positive or negative. We play with light, colour, texture to reinforce the positive.”
Visitors for whom a trip to the Lookout and the revolving Top of Vancouver restaurant is a comfortable birthday or anniversary tradition shouldn’t worry about changes of a drastic sort. Pearl assures them that the heritage look of the building will be preserved.
“We’re going to regain for Harbour Centre the distinction it had years ago – and we’re going to improve on it.”
Adds Shinkewski, “Seeing Harbour Centre, you’ll know that it is Vancouver. We’re not trying to replicate some 17th-century style. This is the here and now. This is our city.”
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