7 factors to carefully consider for the Granville Strip’s revitalization

There is no question that the City of Vancouver’s long-term master plan to revitalize the Granville Entertainment District has the potential to be a transformative game changer for downtown.

This week, with the possibility of some amendments, Vancouver City Council will approve the Granville Street Plan — a comprehensive framework that sets the stage for high-density, mixed-use developments that largely complement entertainment-focused uses, alongside significant upgrades to public spaces along Granville Street between West Georgia and Drake streets.

The plan also calls for major traffic changes: Granville Street would be fully closed to all vehicles, including TransLink buses, to create a vibrant, car-free, pedestrian-only corridor designed to support events and street-level activity.

But let us be clear — while improved public spaces are important, they are not enough and could be a distraction from the core issues.

The Granville Strip’s decline has not stemmed from a lack of wide sidewalks, seating, and other fixtures. It is largely an economic problem rooted in years of disinvestment, high commercial vacancy rates, and a failure to adapt to changing patterns of nightlife, retail, experiential attractions, and entertainment — all of which are compounded by a range of public safety concerns, both real and perceived.

When examining the economic roots of the Granville Entertainment District’s decline, much of it can be traced back to the decline and closure of its once-thriving cinemas. While the street’s downturn has been a gradual process over several decades, it was the loss of these major anchors that truly tipped the scales, triggering a steady erosion of foot traffic and economic vitality on the Granville Strip.

Until the early 2000s, large multi-screen theatre complexes like the six-auditorium Capitol 6 and the seven-auditorium Empire Granville 7 were major draws for the Granville Strip, bringing a steady flow of people of all ages throughout the day and into the evening. Combined, just these two cinemas, not including others nearby, had a combined seating capacity for approximately 5,000 theatre-goers — each with a capacity of around 2,500 — anchoring Granville Street as a vibrant entertainment destination.

But over time, the older multiplex theatres in the Granville Entertainment District struggled to compete with the rise of modern stadium-style cinema complexes elsewhere in the city centre and Metro Vancouver. This trend led to the closure of Capitol 6 in 2005 to make way for the Capitol Residences tower, completed in 2011. Around the same time, the new Scotiabank Theatre (originally named as Paramount Theatre) opened just a few blocks away on Burrard Street, drawing foot traffic away from the entertainment district.

It is worth noting that the massive Capitol 6 complex was not actually located on the Granville Strip itself. While its entrance was on Granville Street, all of its auditoriums were located on an adjacent large building spanning nearly half a block on Seymour Street, connected by an enclosed pedestrian bridge over the laneway. The Orpheum Theatre, previously used as a cinema before its current use for live performances, follows a similar configuration — its auditorium of heritage significance is situated on Seymour Street, while its iconic Granville Street entrance is linked by a footbridge as well.

As for Empire Granville 7, its auditoriums were contained within an almost half block parcel of Granville Street. It gradually faded into irrelevance and ultimately became the Granville Strip’s last theatre, until its closure in 2012. The site remained dormant for years until late 2024, when Cineplex’s The Rec Room finally reached completion and opened, marking a long-awaited return of entertainment programming to the large property on the Granville Strip.

Time-lapse video of the demolition of Capitol 6 Theatre in 2006/2007:

Will this actually catalyze new development worthy of the entertainment district?

All of this leads to the first major question: Will the new development allowances outlined in the Granville Street Plan actually motivate property owners and developers to move forward with truly ambitious building projects worthy of the entertainment district?

If the Granville Street Plan is to be successful, the revitalization must begin with creating major anchors — a critical mass of destination attractions, modern performance venues, vibrant nightlife establishments, and experiential retail. These are the kind of uses that once made the Granville Strip a cultural and entertainment powerhouse.

As downtown Vancouver continues to densify and most surface vehicle parking lots and easily developable sites off Granville Street have already been built out, the solution now lies in embracing significant verticality for the entertainment district’s evolution — a shift made possible by the new plan, which replaces outdated policies that previously restricted the economic viability of new contemporary developments with enhanced commercial and entertainment uses.

Moreover, verticality is a practical necessity due to downtown Vancouver’s relatively tight urban fabric. The city’s already small blocks are further constrained by laneways that bisect most blocks, making development parcels even narrower and more challenging to develop. These physical limitations can restrict the scale and types of projects that can be built — unless greater height is permitted.

For example, permitted added building height could have theoretically given Cineplex the flexibility to consider building a larger Empire Granville 7 redevelopment — one that not only accommodates Western Canada’s flagship The Rec Room, but also includes a few VIP Cinemas auditoriums. This type of co-location vertical integration could have further enhanced both the entertainment offerings and the economic viability of the project. Although cinemas may be in relative decline compared to their heyday, especially since the pandemic, they remain proven crowd-pullers. Cineplex’s newest locations in the region at Marine Gateway, Park Royal, and The Amazing Brentwood demonstrate this clearly — each has become a key anchor for foot traffic.

The new policies will allow for increased building heights ranging from 200 ft. to 400 ft. along the Granville Strip, improving the viability for new entertainment, retail, dining, and other attractions.

Crucially, the added density through verticality create the economic foundation needed to offset or subsidize these lower-level uses, which are vital to reactivating the street but increasingly financially challenging to deliver on their own.

The plan encourages the inclusion of hotel and office space — particularly major hotel developments, given that this use naturally aligns with an entertainment district — along with some targeted residential components intended to act as catalysts for revitalization, such as Bonnis Properties’ newly reframed mixed-use 800 Granville St. proposal with the original primary component of office space replaced with rental housing. These mixed uses, supported by greater density, are essential for making new developments viable in today’s high-cost environment, where land prices and construction expenses remain significant barriers.

While the plan removes key barriers and creates new opportunities, its success ultimately depends on whether the private sector sees enough economic incentive to invest.

Will these new developments generate enough foot traffic for a car-free, pedestrian-only Granville Street?

That quickly leads to the second major question: Will the plan not only result in a wave of major redevelopments, but will those projects include the kinds of tenants — businesses, entertainment venues, and attractions — needed to draw a critical mass of people to a revitalized, car-free Granville Street?

Redevelopment alone will not guarantee vibrancy. Success depends on what fills the first few levels of each building — unique destinations, experiential offerings, and dynamic programming that give people a reason to visit and return to the Granville Strip.

While it will be up to the private sector to plan, innovate, and curate these compelling uses, the City must create the right conditions through the Granville Street Plan. Only by setting a strong policy foundation can the municipal government help reduce the risk that this revitalization effort falls short of its intended goal of transforming the street into the thriving cultural and entertainment hub it is meant to be.

A car-free Granville Street may look great in conceptual artistic renderings and feel more welcoming to pedestrians, but unless there is a robust economic strategy to accompany these public realm upgrades, it risks becoming an under-utilized beautification project.

Fundamentally, the street does not just need people walking through it to improve the sense of public safety — it needs reasons for them to stay.

Will the new street design be flexible for events and festivals?

For the third question: Will the redesigned street offer the flexibility needed to accommodate events and festivals?

More events and festivals held on the Granville Strip would most certainly be a step in the right direction.

Under the plan, a redesigned Granville Street — essentially reimagined as a linear plaza — would be purposefully designed to better accommodate public events, making it easier and more practical to transform the street into an active gathering space on a regular basis.

This would be supported by integrated event infrastructure, such as designated stage areas, specialized lighting, utility hookups for water and electricity, and bollards at intersections — all aimed at reducing setup time and operational costs for event organizers, many of which are non-profit organizations.

While these features could help lower some expenses for event organizers, there is no guarantee they will lead to a surge in programming, especially within this new space — a reality underscored by the historical financial and corporate sponsorship constraints that have limited major public events in Vancouver, as well as the municipal government’s relatively limited financial support for events compared to other cities.

Will buses bring more people and vibrancy than a car-free street would?

The fourth question that must be asked is: Does the current role of Granville Street within downtown as a major public transit corridor outweigh the potential benefits of converting it into a car-free street? More specifically, does the foot traffic from an average of 21,000 passengers on 1,100 TransLink bus trips each weekday contribute more to the street’s daily vibrancy than a pedestrian-only street could?

The masses of public transit riders on the buses generate consistent foot traffic throughout the day, helping sustain nearby businesses and maintaining a baseline level of activity, especially during off-peak/overnight hours and inclement weather, when there are naturally fewer pedestrians. Replacing that with a car-free concept means the new pedestrian zone must not only match but exceed that level of foot traffic to justify the trade-off — a challenge that hinges on whether the envisioned mix of businesses, attractions, events, and public space can reliably draw that critical mass.

To a certain extent, moderate levels of vehicle traffic, not just pedestrian traffic, especially during off-peak/overnight periods, can enhance natural surveillance by putting more “eyes on the street,” which helps deter crime.

This was previously informally “piloted” for roughly four years in the second half of the 2000s — when buses that typically used Granville Street in downtown were temporarily rerouted to Howe Street and Seymour Street to accommodate the construction of the Canada Line’s Vancouver City Centre Station and Waterfront Station below the street, and the $18-million reconstruction of the street with improved design considerations for pedestrians, just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

During the years-long rerouting of bus routes for these construction projects, there was a notable decrease in foot traffic on Granville Street, but an increase on Howe and Seymour streets.

This also circles back to the second question of whether the Granville Street Plan’s development allowances are enough to incentivize major redevelopments that attract tenants of great commercial interest.

Will bus routes become even slower and more unreliable?

The fifth question: If Granville Street in downtown becomes a car-free street for pedestrians, how does this impact the reliability and speed of TransLink buses and the overall passenger experience?

Under the Granville Street Plan, northbound buses would be permanently redirected to Seymour Street, and southbound buses to Howe Street.

But placing each direction’s bus stops for the various bus routes two blocks apart could be confusing for many passengers, as it already is the case whenever Granville Street is currently closed for public events or to accommodate larger nighttime crowds in the entertainment district.

In the plan, City staff state “TransLink’s preference would be for transit vehicles to continue operating on Granville Street with additional priority, as it is an established and important hub that provides convenient access to several frequent bus services and both the Expo and Canada lines.”

Furthermore, currently, “Granville Street provides a high level of transit priority, with further opportunities for transit improvement on the corridor as private vehicles are de-emphasized. It also has strong legibility for transit riders with so many transit services operating in both directions on the same street.”

To mitigate the impacts to buses, the plan calls for implementing additional bus reliability improvements on Granville Street south of Smithe Street in the interim, along with only a seasonal rerouting initially to Howe and Seymour streets with temporary bus priority lanes and bus stop improvements.

Over the long term, when Granville Street in downtown undergoes its permanent car-free, pedestrian-only transformation, bus routes would subsequently be also permanently rerouted to Howe and Seymour streets, accompanied by the supporting measures of full-time bus priority lanes and additional bus priority measures — such as bus bulb sidewalk extensions at bus stops, traffic signal changes, curbside vehicle parking restrictions, and turn restrictions.

Will downtown Vancouver’s major roads become even more congested?

The sixth question may be a controversial one for some, but it is an important consideration nonetheless: Will the full closure of Granville Street to vehicles — combined with rerouting buses and other vehicles to Howe and Seymour streets — lead to even greater traffic congestion in downtown?

Currently, Granville Street in downtown is a bus-only mall between Nelson Street and West Hastings Street. The southern segment of the street in the city centre between Nelson Street and the Granville Street Bridge and the northernmost segment between West Hastings Street and West Cordova Street remains open to all vehicles.

Over the past 15 years, the introduction of protected bike lanes has significantly reduced north-south road capacity to and from the three False Creek bridges. This is especially evident on streets parallel to Granville Street — including Burrard, Hornby, Richards, and Beatty streets — where vehicle lanes have been reallocated to accommodate cycling infrastructure. Additional reductions in capacity have occurred with the installation of bike lanes along Smithe and Nelson streets, further constraining the downtown road network.

The reduced road network for vehicles in downtown Vancouver is increasingly being tested to its absolute limit, with the lower capacity accompanied by a high degree of unpredictability and unreliability from lane or full road closures — everything from prolonged disruptions to accommodate building and road construction to short-term disruptions for special events, film productions, accidents, protests, and police incidents.

While encouraging alternative transportation modes is important for a more sustainable and livable city, it inevitably affects trips that still need to be made by vehicle — including certain workers, goods movement to businesses, and timely access for emergency services.

Additionally, like it or not, downtown Vancouver is a critical transportation hub due to the Lions Gate Bridge — it serves as one of only two fixed routes to the North Shore, BC Ferries’ Horseshoe Bay terminal (reaching Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island), and the Sea to Sky Highway to Squamish and Whistler. Any further reductions in road capacity must carefully consider these regional transportation realities and the essential roles certain vehicle trips continue to play.

It is also important to keep in mind that both Howe and Seymour streets (via the Granville Street Bridge and Granville Street/Oak Street south of False Creek) are formally designated as a non-freeway continuation of the Highway 99 route between Richmond and the North Shore.

Given these mounting pressures, it is clear that the City cannot afford to put all its eggs in one basket — or rather even more limited baskets. While bike lanes and pedestrianization offer substantial public benefits — from promoting active transportation to improving public space — they must be balanced against the need for reliable road capacity. Downtown Vancouver’s transportation network is a complex system, and reallocating space comes with trade-offs.

This is not to say that bike lanes or car-free streets are mistakes, but the City must acknowledge that resiliency in the transportation network requires a diversified, flexible approach.

In the push to reimagine Granville Street as a car-free street, it is essential to strike a balance — one that does not further strain a road network already operating at its limits.

To mitigate the impacts of Granville Street’s permanent closure to vehicles and other increasingly apparent challenge with the road network in downtown, strong consideration should be given to fully removing the curbside vehicle parking spaces along both sides of Howe and Seymour streets, turning each street into three travel lanes for general traffic and one lane for buses.

The maintenance of three travel lanes could also potentially serve to funnel traffic away from other streets, where some traffic calming could be performed.

Currently, with curbside vehicle parking permitted on both sides, Howe and Seymour streets each operate with two travel lanes under normal configurations. However, during weekday peak periods, parking restrictions temporarily convert curb lanes into additional travel lanes — on Seymour Street during both the morning and afternoon rush hours, and on Howe Street during the afternoon peak — to help accommodate increased traffic volumes.

Full-time, parking-free arterial roads are a common feature on major thoroughfares in major city centres, including downtown Toronto and Manhattan.

What about public safety and disorder issues?

And finally, the seventh question: Will crime, public safety concerns, and public disorder continue to persist even after the Granville Street Plan is fully implemented?

This brings the discussion full circle to earlier questions about foot traffic — specifically, whether the proposed developments and changes to the transportation network will increase or decrease the number of people on the street.

As a principle of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), a well-activated street with a steady flow of pedestrians, supported by vibrant businesses and attractions, naturally deters crime through passive surveillance and social presence. But if foot traffic drops due to a poorly executed car-free conversion or insufficient attractions, the entertainment district could remain vulnerable to the same challenges that have long plagued it.

These ongoing challenges stem not only from the decline and closure of longtime anchor attractions, particularly the multiplex cinemas, but also from the historical clustering of nightclubs and bars, which has shaped public perception of the area as a magnet for rowdy nightlife crowds.

Historically, the entertainment district was dominated by nightlife-oriented businesses — a model that is increasingly seen to provide limited daytime activity or all-ages appeal, with differences in the preferences of younger generations now becoming apparent.

But beyond these economic and urban design factors, the Granville Strip has also become a focal point in the city for crime and visible homelessness, mental health, and addictions issues — challenges that add another layer of complexity to the revitalization effort.

The Granville Street Plan calls for replacement of the street’s existing SROs and supportive housing with new social housing, generally at off-site locations.

Some local residents and businesses have attributed the escalation of these challenges in recent years to the provincial government’s pandemic-era decision to buy and convert the Howard Johnson Hotel and the Hostelling International Vancouver Central — previously serving as affordable tourist accommodations that align with the entertainment district’s uses — into permanent supportive housing. Addressing these realities requires confronting the broader systemic issues driving homelessness, mental health, and addiction — challenges that fall primarily within jurisdiction of the provincial government, and cannot be solved by municipal efforts and resources alone.

Once again, revitalization alone is not a cure-all; it must go hand-in-hand with thoughtful social policy, urban design, and a critical presence of people, businesses, and attractions.

While public space improvements on their own will not solve the Granville Strip’s long-standing challenges, they are an important piece of a much larger puzzle.

A reimagined Granville Street would become a vital segment of a broader destination corridor — seamlessly connecting to the new Granville Connector’s pedestrian and cycling pathways on the Granville Street Bridge, set to open in Summer 2025.

Looking north, the street’s future potential is further anchored by the planned future transformation of the Waterfront Station precinct at the foot of Granville Street, which could include high-density development, a vastly improved and expanded public transit hub, new public waterfront spaces, and possibly even an expansion of the Vancouver Convention Centre.