A sizeable new hotel property is proposed within a very short walking distance of the future Mount Pleasant Station on SkyTrain’s Millennium Line Broadway extension.
Nicola Real Estate and Lotus Capital Corporation are proposing to redevelop 75 East 8th Ave., situated at the northwest corner of the intersection of Quebec Street and East 8th Avenue — roughly a five-minute walk northwest from the new public transit hub.
Currently, the site is occupied by one of the remaining old residential buildings within the Mount Pleasant Industrial Area (MPIA). Built in 1961, the three-storey building has 27 rental apartments.
Under the City of Vancouver’s Broadway Plan, a new rezoning application — designed by architectural firm Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership and Loci Landscape Architecture & Urban Design — calls for a 335-ft-tall, 22-storey, mixed-use tower with a boutique hotel geared for extended stays.
Site of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station. (Google Maps)
Site of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Lotus Capital Corporation/Nicola Real Estate)
Existing condition:
Site of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Google Maps)
Future condition:
Concept of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Lotus Capital Corporation/Nicola Real Estate)
Concept of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Lotus Capital Corporation/Nicola Real Estate)
Long-stay hotels often feature larger units with a wider range of in-suite amenities, such as a kitchenette or full kitchens, and in-suite laundry.
This property will be suitable for not only short-term visitors and tourists, but also the longer-term accommodations needed for visiting professionals in Mount Pleasant’s growing concentration of major high-tech and bio-tech companies, and visiting families accompanying patients receiving medical treatment at local hospitals. The area is set to see immense densification as a result of this area plan.
There will be a total of 190 hotel guest rooms within the upper levels of the building. Guests will have access to indoor and outdoor amenity spaces on the third level and entire top level.
Apart from the hotel entrance and lobby area at the building’s ground-level corner with the intersection, the first two levels will be dedicated to over 19,000 sq. ft. of creative/light industrial space to fulfill the minimum new industrial space requirement for the site under the MPIA and Broadway Plan policies for enabling mixed-use development. In fact, the Broadway Plan’s prescriptions and stipulations encourage new hotel development to help narrow the gap of Vancouver’s major hotel room shortage.
Concept of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Lotus Capital Corporation/Nicola Real Estate)
Concept of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Lotus Capital Corporation/Nicola Real Estate)
“The project provides much-needed accommodation options within Vancouver’s constrained hospitality market. The building offers flexibility for extended business travellers, visiting professionals, families, and relocating residents who require the comfort and independence of apartment-style living with the convenience of hotel services. By situating these suites in the heart of Mount Pleasant — near employment hubs, transit, and cultural destinations — the project responds to the City’s objectives for diversified visitor accommodation,” reads the application.
“The proposal reinforces Mount Pleasant’s longstanding role as a centre for light industry, creativity, and local entrepreneurship by preserving and enhancing employment space at grade and on the lower levels. These spaces are designed with flexible, high-ceilinged, and well-daylit interiors that can accommodate a range of industrial, maker, and creative studio uses over time. This approach honours the neighbourhood’s industrial heritage — rooted in production, craft, and innovation — while providing contemporary workspaces that attract new businesses in technology, design, and small-scale manufacturing.
Concept of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Lotus Capital Corporation/Nicola Real Estate)
Concept of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Lotus Capital Corporation/Nicola Real Estate)
Four underground levels will contain 190 vehicle parking stalls. The total building floor area will reach 138,400 sq. ft., establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 11.5 times larger than the size of the 12,100 sq. ft. lot. The building’s height and overall density is limited by the Queen Elizabeth Park View Cone 3.0.
Within the same area of the MPIA and nearby within the Broadway Plan area, Nicola Real Estate is also pursuing a number of other projects, such as the high-density, mixed-use rental housing and commercial redevelopment of the City Centre Motel at 2111 Main St.
Just to the north along the Main Street corridor within Mount Pleasant, within the sites of 1940 Main St. and 143 East 3rd Ave., another developer is proposing to build two new hotel towers with a combined total of about 500 hotel guest rooms and a 60,000 sq. ft. Filipino community and cultural centre.
Concept of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Lotus Capital Corporation/Nicola Real Estate)
Concept of 75 East 8th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Lotus Capital Corporation/Nicola Real Estate)