Visitors to Vancouver will have a new way to experience the waterfront after Vancouver City Council approved plans for a major floating hotel that brings guests directly onto the water in one of the region’s most scenic and central locations.
“Sunborn Evolution Vancouver,” the name of the hotel by Finnish hotel developer Sunborn International Holding, will be located just north of the seawall of the West Building of the Vancouver Convention Centre, specifically on the water lot between the Hullo Ferries terminal and the iconic blue “The Drop” raindrop sculpture.
During Tuesday evening’s public hearing, City Council approved the rezoning application’s text amendment for the site, with only COPE city councillor Sean Orr voting against the project.
The six-storey hotel — with a length of 136 metres (431 ft.), a width of 18 metres (60 ft.), a floor area of about 16,000 sq. metres (172,000 sq. ft.), and a displacement in the water of about 5,400 tons — will be shaped like a ship, but it will function much more like a barge as it will not have any engines or turbines for self-propulsion.
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Dialog/Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Multiple publicly accessible pedestrian bridges will link the floating hotel to the existing seawall promenade, including one next to the raindrop sculpture that directly connects to the main level’s hotel lobby, restaurants, bars, and lounges, and another with a staircase and elevator leading to a 1,200 sq. metre (13,000 sq. ft.) public floating dock on the west side of the hotel — providing a new way to experience the waterfront at water level, with public seating, a cafe, gardens, and spa access.
The dock will be open daily to the public from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. In total, the project will create 100 metres of new publicly accessible walkways.
The hotel will feature 250 guest rooms, with accommodations strategically designed to serve conference attendees at the Vancouver Convention Centre, while also welcoming other visitors. Sunborn will work directly with PavCo, the provincial Crown corporation that operates the convention centre, to meet the needs of attendees.
Sunborn already has existing floating hotel locations in London, which is similarly situated next to the major ExCel convention centre, and in Gibraltar, which also has a casino. After Vancouver, the company has plans to open a fourth location in Seville.
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
“It’s about experiential hospitality”
During the public hearing, Hans Niemi, CEO of Sunborn International, told City Council that the Vancouver location will be relatively more modestly priced compared to their London property, which offers four-star deluxe accommodations.
“This is not a super expensive, very exclusive, unattainable product. We understand the market and the location, and we will work hand in hand with Pavco providing services to their clients. So the pricing point and our access to the market at the right commercial levels is very important to us,” said Niemi.
The company is aiming to finalize a long-term lease term through 2060. However, given the nature of a floating hotel, he says, this is also temporary-like — or essentially semi-permanent — as “it means that we are going to be operating here as long as we want, as long as there’s demand for this product.”
“It’s about experiential hospitality,” he continued, describing the unique maritime typology of this accommodations concept, which makes it stand apart and provides a competitive advantage. “And so, that gives us more leeway in terms of the segmentation. We’re not reliant on any particular segment, but we are able to get the leisure clients, the corporate clients, the exhibition market, [and] the convention market.”
This will help fill the gap in Vancouver’s major hotel room shortage, with the property located in a highly strategic and central location, where the demand for such accommodations is highest.
The floating hotel will have direct landside utility connections to electricity, water, and sewerage from the convention centre, with relatively minimal work needed, especially with the water and black water systems. It will also use the convention centre’s West Building’s existing parkade for both the hotel parking and pick-up/drop-off needs.
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Sunborn will provide the City with $220,000 in development cost levies (DCLs) for the public dock on the west side of the floating hotel and $290,000 for public art.
City staff noted during the public hearing that Sunborn did not want to make a voluntary DCL contribution of about $3.6 million for the floor area of the floating hotel.
The project drew some opposition from public speakers who expressed concerns over potential impacts on harbour and mountain views from sections of the seawall pathway, the introduction of a perceived luxury hotel that privatizes a prominent public waterfront area, and the relatively limited public benefit contributions to the municipality. Some also suggested that the floating hotel should be subject to the same municipal building code regulations.
The view impacts will change throughout the day, as the floating hotel will rise and fall with the tides, which can vary by as much as 15 ft. at certain times of the year.
Royce Chwin, president and CEO of Destination Vancouver, spoke in support of the project and shared that similar view impact and waterfront character concerns were raised by some members of the public in the early 2000s when the convention centre’s West Building design was being considered.
“The convention centre reminds us that early skepticism does not always predict the final outcomes, but the right design and oversight projects like the Sunborn hotel can become assets we’re proud of for years to come,” said Chwin.
“This is not a careless project. If it was, Destination Vancouver would not support. This, we believe, is a very thoughtfully designed, publicly accessible, low-carbon structure that reflects Vancouver’s values and needs. Designed to integrate with the public realm and public access, supporting urgently needed hotel capacity, environmentally focused and grounded, and it complements, does not compete with the convention centre.”
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
When it comes to the criticism over public benefits, Niemi said the public dock — which is larger than what they would need for the floating hotel’s berth — and the various access points represent a capital investment of about $15 million.
When it comes to the limited DCLs, he said that because the project is a maritime asset, it is temporary in nature and difficult to treat the same as a conventional permanent building on land.
“As a non-permanent development, it’s hard to align with the normal permanent building structures that we would normally develop on the land side because you have the value appraisal of your asset going up and the land, and it makes sense to have these sort of building permits-related payments. But when you’re talking about a ship in the port, we don’t know how long it’s going to be there. We hope it’s going to be there for a long time, but that’s the rationale for that,” said Niemi.
“We tried to find something that we can contribute otherwise in-kind, and we feel that we’ve made an attempt to do that with the public dock and the amenity and the destination.”
Addressing the suggestions that the floating hotel should abide by municipal building code regulations, he says it would be the “same as saying that we’re going to apply local building code to an aircraft. It’s not possible.”
Instead, the floating hotel will be certified and regulated by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) — a major international accredited registrar and classification society based in Norway with offices around the world, including in Vancouver. DNV is already a delegated authority of the federal government’s Transport Canada, and the local staff at their Vancouver office will oversee the Sunborn hotel.
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
The alternative to another marina for big yachts
The alternative to bringing a floating hotel to this water lot is to revert to the previous marina plans, says Graham Clarke, who owns a local company with numerous marinas under its portfolio, including the adjacent Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre — where the seaplane and Hullo Ferries terminals are located.
The floating hotel’s berth and dock will repurpose an unused dolphin — a concrete footing in the water — built in the 2000s as a part of the convention centre project, intended for the future marina.
Clarke said that if the floating hotel is rejected, he would revisit plans for a marina for yachts, noting that he holds water lot rights to do so.
He added that such a marina would be gated with no public access, and suggested that large yachts — potentially larger than the proposed floating hotel — could further obstruct views in a way that is completely unmanaged, unlike the floating hotel.
Previous 2009-approved concept for the new yacht marina in front of the West Building of the Vancouver Convention Centre, contrasted with the newly approved Sunborn Evolution Vancouver floating hotel concept. (MCMP)
Previous plan for a new marina on the water lot in front of Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building. (Colliers International Unique Properties)
Previous plan for a new marina on the water lot in front of Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building. (Colliers International Unique Properties)
“We have the rights to that water lot. I had a development permit in 2010 to make it a mega yacht marina, which had no access for the public whatsoever. Some of the people that own those mega yachts — those yachts might actually be bigger than this hotel, but you couldn’t go there. It would be behind a gate,” said Clarke.
“At my age, this point in my life, the legacy that I have for Vancouver is important for me… This use adjacent to the town square (Jack Poole Plaza) is a perfect complementary fit, whereas a private mega yacht marina, which I have the permission to do, I could resurrect that. I could sell memberships to billionaires and clip coupons. That’s what private use is.”
He added that Vancouver has 29 km of publicly accessible waterfront seawall, while the proposed floating hotel would be only about 18 metres wide, and suggested that visitors could simply walk about two dozen steps east or west for any unobstructed views.
Existing concrete dolphin footing at the West Building of Vancouver Convention Centre. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Existing concrete dolphin footing at the West Building of Vancouver Convention Centre. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Existing concrete dolphin footing at the West Building of Vancouver Convention Centre. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Not only will Sunborn Evolution Vancouver hotel provide the city with additional hotel room capacity, but it will support about 200 full-time equivalent jobs and improve the vibrancy of this area of the central waterfront by generating additional pedestrian traffic, especially during the winter months.
“Right now, if you want to look at the view from that spot, it’s almost always in the shade as far as I can tell. But this new dock will add a new sunny vista for folks to really enjoy and get closer to the water… I think this hotel will introduce an opportunity to celebrate what we are as a waterfront city, but also open up access for the public as well as for guests,” said Green city councillor Pete Fry.
ABC city councillor Peter Meiszner added, “I remember the retail units down there really struggled when they first opened. I used to go to the gym there and there was not much else there. Thankfully, those retail units, they have tenants now and it’s more vibrant, but I think this will add life and energy to that space that it still needs.”
ABC city councillor Mike Klassen shared that he first had discussions with the proponent early on in his term in office in December 2022, and that there has been comprehensive consideration and planning for the project ever since, which led to their rezoning application submission in December 2024.
Sunborn worked with local architectural firm Dialog to lead the local application process, as well as the siting, dock, and infrastructure planning components, while a separate firm specializing in maritime vessels designed the floating hotel, which will be a sister vessel of an upcoming replacement of the London location.
When asked today, a representative of the project team told Daily Hive Urbanized they do not have an updated potential opening date for the floating hotel, as they now need to determine their procurement requirements.
This will be a brand-new, purpose-built floating hotel for the Vancouver location.
The convention centre is also expected to gain another sizeable hotel property in very close proximity in 2029. About one block to the southwest, Reliance Properties has plans to renovate and reconfigure the 1966-built, 12-storey office building at 1111 West Hastings St. into the new Le Germain Hotel Vancouver, with 180 guest rooms and a major restaurant destination.
Later this spring or early summer, City Council is also expected to consider Holborn Group’s rezoning application for the multi-tower Bay parkade redevelopment, which includes a 1,034-ft-tall tower with 100 per cent hotel uses — containing 920 guest rooms, convention and meeting space, restaurants, and a one-of-a-kind public observation deck attraction at over 1,000 ft. It would be Western Canada’s tallest building, and its first “supertall” tower.
Concept for the new replacement Sunborn London floating hotel, which will be a sister vessel of the new Vancouver floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Inside the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Inside the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Inside the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Inside the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Inside the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Inside the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Inside the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Inside the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Inside the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Outdoor deck of the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Outdoor deck of the 2014-built Sunborn Gibraltar floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)