Multiple sources have come forward to inform Retail Insider that they’ve heard that a Ritz Carlton Hotel will be opening in the former Four Seasons Hotel complex at CF Pacific Centre in downtown Vancouver. The hotel property connected to the shopping centre was vacated by Four Seasons hotel in early 2020 just before the pandemic.
Retail Insider is unable to confirm the information and thus is classifying the information as a ‘rumour’ worth noting, given the multiple sources.
The Four Seasons operated on the site for about 44 years — the 372 room hotel soaring 30 floors and more than 300 feet opened in April of 1976. The Pacific Centre shopping complex was new at the time and was anchored at it south end by a 630,000 square foot Eaton’s department store.
The Four Seasons Hotel once had a second-level entry directly into the women’s designer floor of Holt Renfrew which once occupied the space in the mall now occupied by H&M. Holt Renfrew relocated a block north within CF Pacific Centre in 2007 to a much larger space as part of a large-format concept for Holt Renfrew.
Several retailers operated in the lobby of the Four Seasons hotel over the years including Canada’s only storefront for luxury jeweller Roberto Coin. That store shut in 2019.
An Apple flagship store is currently under construction beside the former Four Seasons Hotel at CF Pacific Centre. The store will replace a park space and a glass entryway into the mall that resembled an igloo.
The hotel building on West Georgia Street most recently occupied by the Trump Hotel and Private Residences was originally intended to be a Ritz Carlton Hotel — plans changed and the Trump banner proceeded and the hotel component shut earlier this year. A source told Retail Insider that a new independent hotel brand will be announced to replace it with details to come.
Ritz Carlton operates two other hotels in Canada, including one in Toronto’s Entertainment District and another in downtown Montreal on Sherbrooke Street West. The Toronto and Montreal Ritz hotels feature expensive condominium apartments above the hotel components. In Vancouver, it would be unlikely that a substantial residential component would be included given the low ceiling heights in the CF Pacific Centre hotel tower.
We’ll follow up on this bulletin when we are able to confirm rumours about the Ritz Carlton’s move into the Vancouver market via CF Pacific Centre.
