Granville Strip revitalization Archives

Council | North

City Council approves 20-year plan to revitalize Granville Street

Bymichael June 5, 2025June 5, 2025

Phased plan to transform and revitalize downtown Granville into safer, more vibrant destination June 4 2025 – Today, Vancouver City Council approved, with amendments, the Granville Street Plan to guide the transformation of the historic entertainment district into a safer, welcoming and vibrant destination. “This plan marks the beginning of Granville Street’s next chapter,” said Mayor Ken Sim. “It’s about creating a vibrant, fun space and supporting the local businesses, restaurants, and venues that bring it to life. Granville has long been an iconic part of our downtown core, and we’re committed to making it thrive again.” In 2023, City Council voted in support of launching the Granville Street Planning Program to revitalize the area and position it as a major cultural and economic destination once again—supporting jobs, tourism, and local businesses. “Granville has always been a place where people gather—for music, nightlife and community gatherings. This plan helps us honour that legacy while addressing the real challenges the street faces today,” said Josh White, General Manager of Planning, Urban Design and Sustainability. “We’re creating a path to revitalize the district in a way that’s inclusive, vibrant and future-focused.” Developed through engagement The Granville Street Plan was shaped by a multi-year engagement process with input from local businesses, residents, community organizations, equity-denied groups, service providers, and the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. City staff shared the proposed directions for the plan with the public in early 2025 and received strong support for its overall vision and key moves. The plan also aligns with the Vancouver Plan, and the role of the Metro Core as the principal centre of urban employment, living, arts and culture, tourism and entertainment activity for the city and region. Vision for future development The plan guides change in the area through three priority directions: Defining three distinct character areas to support different types of activity, development and public space. This will include an: Entertainment Core: A dynamic destination focused on arts, culture, nightlife, outdoor performances, and hospitality venues. City Centre: A lively civic and commercial hub with new mixed-use residential developments, anchored by a central destination public plaza for gatherings and events. Bridgehead: A quieter mixed-use area that connects Granville Street with nearby neighbourhoods and allows for new residential developments alongside commercial and cultural spaces. Creating a year-round destination public space and pedestrian-only zone featuring day and night programming, amenities, and unique design features. This will start with seasonal pedestrianization and expand overtime as other changes and street improvements progress. Transit improvements to support pedestrianization of the street as buses are re-routed to Seymour and Howe Streets. This requires strong transit priority measures to support transit access and reliability. Implementation and safety improvements The Granville Street Plan will be implemented through a flexible and adaptable phased approach. Enhanced public safety and community well-being are key to revitalizing the area, and Granville Street Plan considers safety improvements at every step, prioritizing programs that support gender-based violence prevention and overall safety. Change in the area will be supported by a District Management Plan, developed in collaboration with partners to address the area’s evolving needs including enhanced services, safety initiatives and coordinated programming. In the near term, implementation will include zoning updates, pedestrian zone pilots, early transit improvements on Granville and Howe and Seymour streets, and initial work to advance District Management. In the long term, the plan will guide major redevelopment, expanded cultural spaces, and the full pedestrianization of the corridor – creating a safer, more inclusive, and vibrant destination for all. For more information about the Granville Street Plan, please visit: council.vancouver.ca/20250604/documents/pspc1.pdf (27.3 MB) Additional quotes: “Good Night Out Vancouver is encouraged to see Council support a plan with such a significant focus on gender-based violence in Vancouver’s entertainment district. Nightlife can only thrive when the safety of all women and marginalized genders in the area after dark is prioritized — it creates greater access, builds community connections and keeps patrons and workers coming back. We are looking forward to supporting the evolution of Granville Street into a space where safety, inclusion, and enjoyment go hand in hand.” – Stacey Forrester, Education Director, Good Night Out Vancouver “Granville Street is more than an entertainment district—it’s one of Vancouver’s most iconic corridors. It connects neighbourhoods, generations, and cultures. For decades, it has been a magnet for shoppers and restaurants goers, and a gathering place for everything from live music and nightlife to parades, protests, and civic celebrations. Destination Vancouver fully supports this vision and the role it will play in strengthening our city’s appeal to locals and visitors.” – Royce Chwin, President & CEO, Destination Vancouver “Today’s milestone brings us to the starting line for real investment and transformation on Granville Street. It gives everyone a clear roadmap for how best to work together towards ensuring our iconic street is the vibrant destination we all know it can be. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead, but we also need to move quickly on the immediate safety and street improvements needed to sustain existing businesses as this vision comes to life.” – Jane Talbot, President & CEO, Downtown Van “Today’s announcement is welcome news for the businesses on and around Granville Street, including the members of Hospitality Vancouver Association (HVA). The contents of this report indicate an acknowledgement of the important role of Granville Street as the Entertainment District of our city and indicate a renewed

7 factors to carefully consider for the Granville Strip’s revitalization

Bymichael June 5, 2025June 5, 2025

There is no question that the City of Vancouver’s long-term master plan to revitalize the Granville Entertainment District has the potential to be a transformative game changer for downtown. This week, with the possibility of some amendments, Vancouver City Council will approve the Granville Street Plan — a comprehensive framework that sets the stage for high-density, mixed-use developments that largely complement entertainment-focused uses, alongside significant upgrades to public spaces along Granville Street between West Georgia and Drake streets. The plan also calls for major traffic changes: Granville Street would be fully closed to all vehicles, including TransLink buses, to create a vibrant, car-free, pedestrian-only corridor designed to support events and street-level activity. But let us be clear — while improved public spaces are important, they are not enough and could be a distraction from the core issues. The Granville Strip’s decline has not stemmed from a lack of wide sidewalks, seating, and other fixtures. It is largely an economic problem rooted in years of disinvestment, high commercial vacancy rates, and a failure to adapt to changing patterns of nightlife, retail, experiential attractions, and entertainment — all of which are compounded by a range of public safety concerns, both real and perceived. When examining the economic roots of the Granville Entertainment District’s decline, much of it can be traced back to the decline and closure of its once-thriving cinemas. While the street’s downturn has been a gradual process over several decades, it was the loss of these major anchors that truly tipped the scales, triggering a steady erosion of foot traffic and economic vitality on the Granville Strip. Until the early 2000s, large multi-screen theatre complexes like the six-auditorium Capitol 6 and the seven-auditorium Empire Granville 7 were major draws for the Granville Strip, bringing a steady flow of people of all ages throughout the day and into the evening. Combined, just these two cinemas, not including others nearby, had a combined seating capacity for approximately 5,000 theatre-goers — each with a capacity of around 2,500 — anchoring Granville Street as a vibrant entertainment destination. But over time, the older multiplex theatres in the Granville Entertainment District struggled to compete with the rise of modern stadium-style cinema complexes elsewhere in the city centre and Metro Vancouver. This trend led to the closure of Capitol 6 in 2005 to make way for the Capitol Residences tower, completed in 2011. Around the same time, the new Scotiabank Theatre (originally named as Paramount Theatre) opened just a few blocks away on Burrard Street, drawing foot traffic away from the entertainment district. It is worth noting that the massive Capitol 6 complex was not actually located on the Granville Strip itself. While its entrance was on Granville Street, all of its auditoriums were located on an adjacent large building spanning nearly half a block on Seymour Street, connected by an enclosed pedestrian bridge over the laneway. The Orpheum Theatre, previously used as a cinema before its current use for live performances, follows a similar configuration — its auditorium of heritage significance is situated on Seymour Street, while its iconic Granville Street entrance is linked by a footbridge as well. As for Empire Granville 7, its auditoriums were contained within an almost half block parcel of Granville Street. It gradually faded into irrelevance and ultimately became the Granville Strip’s last theatre, until its closure in 2012. The site remained dormant for years until late 2024, when Cineplex’s The Rec Room finally reached completion and opened, marking a long-awaited return of entertainment programming to the large property on the Granville Strip. Time-lapse video of the demolition of Capitol 6 Theatre in 2006/2007: Empire Granville 7 theatre at the Granville Entertainment District before its closure. (Google Maps) Will this actually catalyze new development worthy of the entertainment district? All of this leads to the first major question: Will the new development allowances outlined in the Granville Street Plan actually motivate property owners and developers to move forward with truly ambitious building projects worthy of the entertainment district? If the Granville Street Plan is to be successful, the revitalization must begin with creating major anchors — a critical mass of destination attractions, modern performance venues, vibrant nightlife establishments, and experiential retail. These are the kind of uses that once made the Granville Strip a cultural and entertainment powerhouse. As downtown Vancouver continues to densify and most surface vehicle parking lots and easily developable sites off Granville Street have already been built out, the solution now lies in embracing significant verticality for the entertainment district’s evolution — a shift made possible by the new plan, which replaces outdated policies that previously restricted the economic viability of new contemporary developments with enhanced commercial and entertainment uses. Moreover, verticality is a practical necessity due to downtown Vancouver’s relatively tight urban fabric. The city’s already small blocks are further constrained by laneways that bisect most blocks, making development parcels even narrower and more challenging to develop. These physical limitations can restrict the scale and types of projects that can be built — unless greater height is permitted. The Rec Room Granville at 850 Granville St. (Kenneth Chan) The Rec Room Granville at 850 Granville St. (Kenneth Chan) For example, permitted added building height could have theoretically given Cineplex the flexibility to consider building a larger Empire Granville 7 redevelopment — one that not only accommodates Western Canada’s flagship The Rec Room, but also includes