Sony Pictures Imageworks to relocate global headquarters office to The Post

Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver tower to be demolished for brand new tower development

Amazon opens major office atrium as part of its phased growth within The Post complex in Vancouver through 2026

Inside one of Amazon's largest new Vancouver office buildings, now under new ownership

CF Pacific Centre mall once had a massive atrium with a waterfall (PHOTOS)

Industrial Light & Magic to relocate Vancouver studio to The Stack office tower

The office floors are addressed as 725 Granville Street (the office entrance is located on the north side of the building), while the former Nordstrom space is addressed as 799 Robson Street. This retail/office building forms the southernmost extent of the three-block-long CF Pacific Centre mall and office complex.

Almost exactly a decade ago, when Imageworks first announced the relocation of its global headquarters from California to Vancouver, Sony had indicated that a 10-year lease had been signed for its office space. But now, after 10 years, this lease will not be renewed.

Upon inquiry, a spokesperson for Cadillac Fairview (CF) told Daily Hive Urbanized that Imageworks is leaving their space at 725 Granville Street, with the space now being actively marketed for a new lease tenant, focusing on creative industries. This Sony space will become available in June 2025.

The existing Sony office space was highly designed for Imageworks’ unique spatial needs, including expansive creative open workspaces, 11 screening theatres, multiple video conference rooms, onsite training spaces, and large amenity areas for workers, such as an internal outdoor courtyard. Before the pandemic, this Sony facility had enough space to accommodate over 700 visual effects artists.

“The uniquely large floor plate and high ceilings provide unparalleled efficiencies and natural light rarely available in Vancouver,” added the CF spokesperson.

Separate sources wishing anonymity have confirmed to Daily Hive Urbanized that Imageworks will relocate its global headquarters office from the former Nordstrom building to The Post complex in downtown Vancouver.

The global headquarters office of Sony Pictures Imageworks would effectively be in the same building as Amazon’s Vancouver corporate office hub. But there will be no reduction to Amazon’s 1.1 million sq ft of office space in The Post.

Following an inquiry, a spokesperson for Quadreal Property Group, the owner and developer of The Post, also told Daily Hive Urbanized today that Sony would move to the fourth floor of the building’s The Atrium space — within The Post’s heritage base podium and beneath the bulk of the sprawling complex’s Amazon floors. However, they said they are unable to elaborate any further at this time.

Apart from the 2024-opened Evolve Strength fitness gym, which occupies 37,000 sq ft on the northern end of the fourth floor of The Atrium of The Post, this level does not have any other tenants. In total, The Post has about 185,000 sq ft of retail space within its base levels, with the largest retail tenant being Loblaws City Market.

In September 2024, during an interview and tour of the new Amazon atrium space on the eighth floor of The Post, Amazon told Daily Hive Urbanized they are fully committed to their long-term tenancy of the entirety of The Post’s office space. The Post’s South Tower office space is now fully occupied by Amazon, and the company’s central office space in the upper floors of the base podium opened last September. Amazon told Daily Hive Urbanized that they are aiming to open the office spaces in the North Tower in 2026.

As for the former Nordstrom building at CF Pacific Centre, the largest office tenant above the luxury retailer’s former space is Microsoft’s Canada Excellence Centre corporate office, which spans at least 140,000 sq ft across two levels.

When Microsoft first announced in 2014 its plans to open this Vancouver office location, it indicated that it had signed an 11-year lease for the space. With the original lease now approaching expiration, Daily Hive Urbanized reached out to Microsoft about whether it has extended its lease at this location but did not hear back in time for publication. Unlike Sony’s space, it should be emphasized that Microsoft’s existing space in this building is not listed for lease.

Microsoft’s office footprint in downtown Vancouver has grown tremendously in recent years, with the openings of new locations at 375 Water Street (The Landing) and 155 Water Street in Gastown and the expected future location within the new B6 office tower to the west. Daily Hive Urbanized had also previously reported that Microsoft had temporarily taken over Spaces’ 63,000 sq ft co-working office space at the former Tom Lee building at 929 Granville Street, which was also recently used as a temporary Deloitte office.

Some of Sony Pictures Imageworks’ most recent visual effects and animation work include the various Spider-Man movies under the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), as well as the two animated Spider-Man “Spider-verse” movies, MCU films such as Thor: Love and Thunder, The Marvels, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Nordstrom, the office of Sony Pictures Imageworks, and a 48,000 sq ft indoor mall expansion of CF Pacific Centre within the basement level of the building opened in 2015, while the Microsoft office opened in 2016.

A decade later, both Sony Pictures Imageworks and Microsoft’s Canada Excellence Centre are credited with providing Vancouver’s tech industry a significant confidence and economic boost, which, in turn, has helped attract other multinational tech firms to the city and foster their growth. As well, the major workforce size of both companies combined have added to the economic vibrancy of downtown Vancouver’s Central Business District.

In 2014, law firm Miller Thomson was the first business to announce its office tenancy at the significantly renovated CF Pacific Centre building following the 2012 closure of Sears. The prominent law firm opened its innovative 48,000 sq ft open-concept office above Nordstrom in 2017 but then relocated its entire office space to the adjacent TD Tower at 700 Granville Street in 2022, which is also owned by Cadillac Fairview.

Last week, Daily Hive Urbanized reported that this former Nordstrom building would be redeveloped following an inquiry first made by this media outlet. When asked to further elaborate on the details of the “redevelopment of Nordstrom” and differentiate whether this would involve a wholesale demolition of the existing building structure for a new-build development instead of a renovation of the existing retail space, a spokesperson for Cadillac Fairview initially confirmed it would be a demolition of the existing structure, before later retracting this comment shortly after publication. They later clarified that the former Nordstrom space would be subdivided and renovated for new tenants.

Cadillac Fairview has now submitted a permit application to the municipal government to perform significant work to the interior space of the former Nordstrom Vancouver building, which spans 230,000 sq ft over the first three floors. This involves removing Nordstrom’s interior furnishings for all three floors, including the existing tile and wood flooring, and all non-structural drywall, wood ceilings, and internal non-structural drywall partition demising walls. As well, the existing kitchen facilities of Nordstrom’s Bistro Verde restaurant space on the third level will be fully removed.

Such work to remove Nordstrom’s interior finishings — reducing the space to its “default” barebone setting — would conceivably be the first step for the future new retail tenants, which have yet to be announced.

There has been speculation that the former Nordstrom Vancouver store could be reconfigured into three or four smaller retail units, including the possibility of a new La Maison Simons store location. In June 2024, Cadillac Fairview announced it would deploy such a strategy for Nordstrom’s former 220,000 sq ft space at CF Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto, with 110,000 sq ft for Simons, 25,000 sq ft for an Eataly food hall, and 18,000 sq ft for Nike.

The subdivision of the former Nordstrom space represents one of the two major changes coming to CF Pacific Centre mall.

As first reported by Daily Hive Urbanized last week, following an inquiry, the former Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver tower on the centre block of CF Pacific Centre will be fully demolished. Cadillac Fairview has filed an application to demolish the tower from the 30th floor to level five of the base podium — a demolition of the tower above the rooftop of the indoor mall.

After more than four decades of business, Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver vacated the 1976-built, 372-room hotel tower in January 2020. Instead of renovating the tower, Cadillac Fairview is now pursuing the construction of a brand-new mixed-use tower. It has yet to reveal its design concept, but they have indicated that it could include a hotel component.

“Cadillac Fairview is proud of its legacy of owning and operating the best-in-class properties in all of the communities it serves. As part of that legacy, Cadillac Fairview is committed to ensuring that CF Pacific Centre remains the pre-eminent destination of choice in Vancouver for locals and visitors alike,” the spokesperson told Daily Hive Urbanized upon inquiry last week.

“Cadillac Fairview’s plans for the new tower are aimed at bringing exciting uses to the centre, which would continue to include a hospitality offering. Cadillac Fairview looks forward to sharing more details about these transformative redevelopment projects in the future.”

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