Landmark tree-inspired office tower concept for revived Waterfront Station project | Urbanized

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Landmark tree-inspired office tower concept for revived Waterfront Station project | Urbanized

Canadian real estate giant Cadillac Fairview is making a renewed effort to proceed with its long-planned office tower project on its Waterfront Station property in downtown Vancouver.

And this latest attempt comes with an all-new striking architectural concept designed by Vancouver-based firm James Cheng Architects.

A newly submitted development permit application for 601 West Cordova St. (previously addressed as 555 West Cordova St.) calls for the redevelopment of the surface vehicle parking lot immediately east of the 1914-built heritage former CPR building, which is more commonly associated for being Waterfront Station and is owned by Cadillac Fairview.

This will be a 416-ft-tall, 22-storey tower containing about 417,000 sq. ft. of total building floor area, with ground-level retail/restaurant uses and premium office space from levels two to 22.

The eye-catching landmark design is inspired by the idea of a tree, drawing from the site’s historical name by local First Nations, the “Grove of Maples.”

Site of 601 West Cordova St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Existing condition:

Site of 601 West Cordova St., Vancouver. (James Cheng Architects/Cadillac Fairview)

Cancelled 2020 revised origami crystal concept:

Cancelled: January 2020 artistic rendering of 601 West Cordova St., Vancouver. (Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture/Cadillac Fairview)

2026 revised tree-inspired concept:

2026 concept of 601 West Cordova St., Vancouver. (James Cheng Architects/Cadillac Fairview)

The tower is imagined as having a “trunk” and a “crown,” helping explain how it fits into its surroundings. The trunk, or core, is lifted and split to keep important views open from the ground level — especially toward the harbour and mountains — while also reducing the building’s impact on nearby historic structures.

By raising much of the building off the ground, the design creates more open space at street level, forming a welcoming public plaza — replacing the surface vehicle parking lot — that better connects to Gastown.

The crown, or upper building mass, is shaped to adapt better to the surrounding urban fabric. Instead of the previous design’s single large block, the newly revised building concept is broken into smaller stacked forms that better match the scale of nearby heritage buildings, according to the proponents. These pieces are rotated slightly to reflect different city grid directions, giving the building a more dynamic look.

Much of the tower’s crown will hover directly above the easternmost portion of the heritage Waterfront Station building.

Existing condition:

Existing condition of Waterfront Station looking east on West Cordova Street near Granville Street. (Google Maps)

Cancelled 2020 revised origami crystal concept:

Cancelled: January 2020 artistic rendering of 601 West Cordova St., Vancouver. (Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture/Cadillac Fairview)

Future condition:

2026 concept of 601 West Cordova St., Vancouver. (James Cheng Architects/Cadillac Fairview)

As well, the stepped form also allows for outdoor rooftop terraces and green spaces, creating outdoor amenity areas for office workers.

Conceptual artistic renderings appear to show an office tower lobby integrated with Waterfront Station, providing a direct entrance into one of TransLink’s busiest public transit hubs.

This high-ceiling office lobby in the base of the tower is fully enclosed by glass, with an attempt to provide a semi-transparent, see-through interior space at ground level to further preserve the public’s northward views.

Due to the site’s spatial limitations and the technical challenges of constructing underground parking, and in order to take full advantage of its prime location at a major public transit hub, this transit-oriented development will not include on-site vehicle parking.

The application also notes that about 26,700 sq. ft. of floor area in the existing station building will be demolished. However, this appears to be a demolition of the building’s basement space directly beneath the surface vehicle parking lot (visible from Waterfront Station’s West Coast Express commuter rail platform) — not a demolition of the at-grade structure visible from the West Cordova Street level.

2026 concept of 601 West Cordova St., Vancouver. (James Cheng Architects/Cadillac Fairview)

James Cheng Architects has designed some of downtown Vancouver’s most prominent buildings, including the Park Hyatt Vancouver tower (formerly known as the Shangri-La Vancouer tower), Shaw Tower, Fairmont Pacific Rim tower, and most recently The Stack office tower, which is Vancouver’s tallest office building.

Cadillac Fairview began working on this project well over a decade ago. In 2014, it submitted a development permit application to build an origami crystal-inspired office tower designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the same Chicago-based firm behind Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

However, the initial concept proved controversial and was ultimately rejected in 2014. Critics objected to the origami-like crystal tower because its lower portions overhung and obscured parts of the landmark station building, while others felt its sharp, modern form clashed with the surrounding brick heritage buildings. Academics at Simon Fraser University’s Harbour Centre campus also raised concerns that the tower would block important views of the harbour and mountains — including the views from inside their campus building — and called for the need to create a cohesive master plan for developing the Waterfront Station precinct and the Gastown railyard.

In February 2020, Cadillac Fairview submitted a new development permit application, with a revised design providing a 90-degree twist to the origami crystal concept — a measure intended to address some of the concerns raised by critics. The cancelled 2020 revised concept proposed a 376-ft-tall, 26-storey tower with about 530,000 sq. ft. of office space.

The City of Vancouver’s Development Permit Board was scheduled to decide on that previous application in a public meeting in March 2021, but the project’s application and consideration was cancelled before the meeting date.

Cadillac Fairview’s latest development permit application was submitted in late November 2025, and the City’s formal public consultation period for the drastically revised design by the new architect began today and will continue through early March 2026.

The City’s Heritage Commission is scheduled to meet and deliberate on the project on March 9, 2026, and potentially provide feedback on how the design mitigates its impacts to the adjacent heritage buildings. This will be followed by further input during the public meeting by the City’s Urban Design Panel on March 11, 2026. Then on May 11, 2026, the application will be decided by City staff during the Development Permit Board’s public meeting.

It should be emphasized that this is not a rezoning application. As the proposed uses, height, and density align with existing zoning and policies for the site, a rezoning application is not needed and the developer can go straight to the development permit application; it does not require the additional step of seeking Vancouver City Council’s rezoning approval in a public hearing.

2026 concept of 601 West Cordova St., Vancouver. (James Cheng Architects/Cadillac Fairview)

Although there is currently weaker office space demand, this rebooted project appears to be targeted to meet a long-term resurgence in demand, with such major tower projects taking years to materialize — from the initial design, planning, and proposal stage to the completion of construction, at which point market conditions could be quite different. Moreover, this is a highly attractive and strategic site for such a project.

Cadillac Fairview is advancing its Waterfront Station office tower project when the City is also conducting a master planning process for the Waterfront Station public transit hub precinct and Gastown railyard, which includes the 601 West Cordova St. site.

In November 2024, in an internal memo, the City provided a progress update on planning this Central Waterfront District.

At that time, City staff stated that they had recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a joint planning partnership for the area with landowners and key stakeholders — including Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Transport Canada, Government of British Columbia, Vancouver Convention Centre (PavCo), and private property owners Cadillac Fairview and GHD Equity Holdings. TransLink, VIA Rail, and Canadian National are also involved in the planning process. City staff previously estimated it would cost about $2.6 million to carry out this preliminary planning work, but no public timelines have been established for creating the master plan.

Cadillac Fairview also owns major properties immediately east of Waterfront Station, including the Granville Square, PricewaterhouseCooper Place, and CF Waterfront Centre office towers. The company is currently well into the process of demolishing the 30-storey tower at CF Pacific Centre previously home to Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver, and it intends to submit a proposal to redevelop the site into a new mixed-use tower with potentially a new hotel use.

Cancelled: January 2020 artistic rendering of 601 West Cordova St., Vancouver. (Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture/Cadillac Fairview)

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