A
historic
building in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver
is The Woodward's building, British Columbia,
Canada. The original portion of the building
was constructed in 1903 for the Woodward's
Department Store. At one time, this was the
premiere shopping destination in Vancouver.
The building was famous for its Christmas
window displays, and the "W" sign
at the top of the building is a distinctive
landmark on the Vancouver skyline. Since the
bankruptcy of Woodward's in 1993, the building
has remained vacant. Developing this building
is seen by some as a key to revitalizing the
Downtown Eastside.
This
building, occupies approximately 2/3 of the city
block. The popularity of Woodward's attracted many
other businesses to the area. In 1944, the landmark
"W" was installed on the top of the building
on a 25 metre replica of the Eiffel Tower, replacing
a pre-war searchlight-beacon which had until then
been the building's hallmark, and which was visible
at night from as far away as Abbotsford and Mission.
The spotlight was shut down at the opening of World
War II because of its potential use as a landmark
for aerial attacks. And also the second location
for the Woodward's department store, was built in
1903 by Charles Woodward. Woodward's pioneered the
concept of one-stop shopping, and the store included
a food floor,
household items, men's and women's fashion, and
provided cheque cashing, travel booking and other
services. The store was well-known for carrying
a large variety of goods that were not available
anywhere else. The store soon became a feature attraction
in Vancouver, and it expanded over 12 separate phases
to a final size of 12 storeys.
The building
was designed over a number of phases, so the structure
varies significantly over the building. The main portion
of the building uses massive heavy timber construction
from the old growth forests that were available near
Vancouver at the turn of the century. Much of the
square footage of the store building was not retail
space: mazes of stockrooms were the bulk of the building's
space, outside the view of customers.
Fama Holdings
acquired the building in 1995. The firm developed
a plan to build private housing in the building. However,
many of those in the neighbourhood strongly objected
as it was felt to be important that the project incorporate
social housing. The provincial government of British
Columbia decided to fund some social housing as part
of the project. However, Fama and the province could
not come to an agreement, and the project died. The
building stood largely vacant, except for the occasional
film shoot.
The province
bought the building from Fama for $22 million in 2001,.
A variety of options were pursued to develop the building.
In 2002, the building was occupied by an organized
squat that demanded that the building be developed
into social housing. Eventually, the city was able
to convince the squatters to leave.
The
City of Vancouver purchased the building for $5
million, and began a unique public consultation
process, asking the community what they wanted from
the redevelopment in 2003. After a competition between
three developers, in September 2004 the city selected
Westbank Projects.
Peterson Investment
Group to develop the building. The plan includes 700
housing units, shops, community and public green space,
a daycare, and a new addition to the SFU downtown
campus: the School for Contemporary Arts. The oldest
part of the complex (built 1903-1908) will be restored,
and will serve as non-profit community space. Construction
is scheduled to begin in summer of 2006, with a completion
date of spring 2009.
