Proposed Army & Navy Vancouver redevelopment grows taller with more rental housing and new hotel uses

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These height increases were triggered by Vancouver City Council’s July 2024 decision to amend the view cones, with the changes to View Cone 3.2.3. emanating from Queen Elizabeth Park and View Cone JQ emanating from Creekside Park (next to Science World) providing the Cohen Block project with much more room to grow vertically.

Cancelled 2023 concept:

Revised March 2025 concept:

Even more rental housing

With the added height, the south parcel’s tower now contains 519 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 411 market rental units and 108 below-market rental units, which would be operated by the BC Indigenous Housing Society. On the ground level, activating West Hastings Street, there will be over 4,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space.

Drastic changes to the concept have also been made to the north parcel.

The 2023 preliminary concept proposed retaining and restoring the heritage façade of the 1893-built, three-storey building on the north parcel fronting West Cordova Street. The plan included 18,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space as well as a mid-block indoor public atrium on the ground level, and 282,000 sq. ft. of office space. This office space would be distributed across the upper two levels of the heritage base podium and a new bulky terraced vertical expansion, increasing the Cordova Building’s height to nine, 10, and 11 storeys.

Cancelled 2023 concept:

Revised March 2025 concept:

However, the 2025 rezoning application submission has also overhauled the Cordova Building with a new concept. Instead, this north parcel now features a more slender but taller vertical expansion, located on the west side of the base podium, reaching a height of 218 ft. with 20 storeys.

As well, the newly revised design has completely eliminated all office space on the north parcel. The tower levels above the heritage base podium now contain 219 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 172 market rental units and 47 below-market rental units.

Cancelled 2023 concept:

Revised March 2025 concept:

New major hotel and rooftop restaurant for Gastown, and innovative public spaces

In addition to introducing rental housing to the north parcel, a major hotel component has now been added, generating 179 guest rooms. The upper two levels of the heritage base podium will be dedicated to guest rooms, while a two-storey vertical expansion above the east side of the podium will accommodate additional guest rooms, hotel amenities, and a standout hotel restaurant on the fifth level, featuring 3,200 sq. ft. of indoor dining space and a spacious outdoor rooftop patio.

Additionally, the core of the floor plates on the west side of the heritage base podium is carved out to create an internal hotel courtyard, allowing for guest rooms that overlook this courtyard, which starts at the second level.

This courtyard is also accessible from the ground level’s mid-block indoor atrium, which doubles as a north-south pedestrian connection between West Cordova Street and the laneway. The atrium is activated by a hotel lobby entrance, various retail unit entrances, and seating.

Similar to the 2023 concept, the newly revised design maintains a similar amount of retail/restaurant space on the north parcel’s ground level — about 16,000 sq. ft. This multi-storey atrium, the grand entrance into the building, continues to be strategically aligned with the through-block connection of Westbank’s newly built Blood Alley mixed-use complex immediately to the north, supporting the potential creation of a future mid-block pedestrian crossing across West Cordova Street.

To the south, this indoor atrium leads to the laneway, which will become a drastically improved pedestrian-friendly public space. Artistic renderings show the potential for special lighting, pavers, and other upgrades, including the possibility of a rear restaurant/cafe patio for the south building’s ground-level retail/restaurant space.

The commercial retail spaces are supported by an improved public realm, which includes an enhanced laneway, upgraded utilities, and improved lighting and pedestrian safety.

While the 2023 concept fully enclosed the mid-block outdoor carriageway at the westernmost end of the Cordova Building to create additional indoor floor space, the revamped design preserves the heritage carriageway, widens it, and enhances its brightness for improved safety and visibility. This redesigned carriageway, connecting West Cordova Street to the laneway, will now serve as a building entrance and a pick-up/drop-off area for both the residences and the hotel.

Existing condition of the heritage Cordova Building:

Future condition based on the revised March 2025 concept:

View cone changes enable more creative spaces and active uses

Altogether, the expanded concept of the Cohen Block redevelopment generates 738 mixed-income rental homes — nearly four times as many as the 2023 preliminary proposal.

The overall unit size mix is 200 studios, 426 one-bedroom units, and 112 two-bedroom units. Residents will have access to various shared indoor and outdoor amenity spaces, including a pedestrian overpass above the laneway on the sixth floor that connects the amenity spaces in both towers.

The north and south buildings will each have four underground levels. However, the access for the south building’s vehicle parking levels on P3 and P4 will be through the parkade entrance into the north building from the laneway. Two underground parkade tunnels beneath the laneway will be built to connect the P3 and P4 levels of both buildings. Furthermore, the P1 and P2 levels of the south building are dedicated to secured bike parking.

Overall, the Cohen Block will have 344 vehicle parking stalls, including 301 stalls in the Cordova Building and 43 stalls in the Samuel Residential Tower. This includes 243 stalls for market rental housing uses, five stalls for below-market rental housing and social housing uses, 36 stalls for residential visitors, 43 stalls for hotel uses, and 17 stalls for retail/restaurant use. This is in addition to over 1,100 secured bike parking spaces.

The project’s total building floor area now being pursued is 585,500 sq. ft., establishing a floor area ratio (FAR) density of a floor area that is 11.86 times larger than the size of the 47,100 sq. ft. land area of both the north and south parcels combined. This is up from the 2023 preliminary concept’s 424,000 sq. ft. of floor area with a density of 9.0 FAR.

Michael Green Architecture, Arcadis, and Hapa Collaborative are the design firms for the project, which carries a West Coast contemporary design in a way that highlights the site’s heritage features. Facade materials could consist of masonry and metal panels with a terracotta tone.

The Cohen Block carries the namesake of the family that has owned Army & Navy since its inception in 1919.

Amid the harsh pandemic impacts in 2020, Army & Navy shut down its store locations, and began planning for the redevelopment of the Vancouver store. Jacqui Cohen, the president and CEO of Army & Navy Properties, and the granddaughter of founder Sam Cohen, partnered with local development firm Bosa Properties.

With the changes to the view cones allowing for greater building heights, it is clear that this has provided more flexibility for creative and innovative commercial uses and public spaces. This marks a shift from the previous approach of maximizing density within the limited heritage volume and airspace — into every nook and cranny — imposed by previous view cone constraints. Key changes include redistributing new density vertically for the Cordova Building, creating an internal courtyard by removing the existing floor area, and preserving and upgrading the carriageway.

The Cohen Block redevelopment’s shift from significant office uses to a sizeable hotel property in the southern extent of Gastown, combined with major retail and restaurant spaces, provides an economic and tourism boost to the area. It also helps address Vancouver’s growing shortage of hotel rooms.

Existing condition of the south parcel:

Cancelled 2023 concept:

Revised March 2025 concept:

Additionally, the revisions, made possible by view cone changes, introduce a substantial infusion of market rental housing, further diversifying the housing supply near and within the Downtown Eastside Plan area. This is an intended goal of City Council, instead of the current approach of building primarily social housing and supportive housing in the vicinity. As well, the below-market rental housing component is now nearly the same size as the entire rental housing uses of the 2023 preliminary proposal.

A growing number of projects across Vancouver that were previously constrained by view cone regulations are now being reconsidered. Earlier this week, Daily Hive Urbanized reported on the revised rezoning application for the 800 Granville Street redevelopment in the Granville Entertainment District. The new proposal features two slender towers rising up to 43 storeys, replacing the original plan for a single, large building mass that spanned the length of the city block at half the height. Similarly, this project has shifted from office use to rental housing.

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