Hudson’s Bay is proposing to turn its flagship Vancouver store into a part-office tower, part-retail space, part-event space and part-green commuter hub – the latest move in the continuing transformation of department stores and city downtowns.

Company officials announced Wednesday they will be putting in a formal application to the city to redevelop the historic nine-storey store building (three underground) by adding 12 storeys of office space, transforming the top floors of the existing building into more office and reworking the interior to create a large event space and a three-storey atrium. The retail space will be reduced almost in half, from about 600,000 square feet to 350,000 square feet.

“Hudson’s Bay will become a discovery destination. We are fully reimagining the Hudson’s Bay experience,” said company president Wayne Drummond.

The architects for the Vancouver store are Perkins and Will, an architecture firm that specializes in sustainable building. This has transportation advocates excited, because the plan at the moment is to add no new parking for motor vehicles and instead provide space for 1,500 bicycles, as well as improve transit and pedestrian experiences.

The decision is also being enthusiastically welcomed by some city politicians and downtown advocates, who have seen the city’s central retail and business core battered by two years of the pandemic.

The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association president, Nolan Marshall, says his organization “is incredibly optimistic and encouraged by the investment.”

Keep reading in The Globe and Mail