Royal Centre at 1050 West Georgia Street will be reimagined as part of a multimillion-dollar makeover that will renovate the streetfront plaza to mark the tower’s 50th anniversary.
Originally completed in 1973, the 37-storey tower has undergone renovations and regular refreshes in the intervening 50 years.
But none has been as far-reaching as the extensive renovation plan announced Jan. 16, which promises – according to property manager Warrington PCI – “to elevate the building's aesthetic and functional appeal, creating a dynamic and modern space for tenants and visitors.”
Key elements include state-of-the-art structural glass walls that will create a bright, expansive feel, as well as new landscaping and improved signage facilitating connections to the SkyTrain station below.
A new 9,000-square-foot, two-level restaurant and a 4,600-square-foot exterior patio overlooking West Georgia Street, one of the city’s key arteries, also figure into the plans. With landlords seeking ways to animate spaces, the restaurant and a new lobby café will provide a trendy space for professional and social meetings.
“One of the goals is to have a place for our tenants to be able to meet in the lobby,” said Lorna Park, senior vice-president, property management with Warrington PCI. “There hasn’t been that in the actual lobby of the office tower, so our hope is that this will be a place where they can meet.”
A prior renovation in 2001 delivered an extensive overhaul of the podium, but changes in how people work and socialize over the past 20-plus years mean there’s room for a significant update that transforms it from being simply an office building to a destination.
“We’re hoping that the exterior plaza will help to be another draw to come back to work downtown,” Park said.
While in-house amenities and social programming that transform towers from layers of siloed workers into communities in their own right have helped, there’s a renewed emphasis on the face buildings present to the public.
Royal Centre’s new plaza follows on other downtown makeovers, most notably the replacement of the rotunda at Pacific Centre by Canada’s only Apple flagship store in 2022.
Other projects engage the public with appealing spaces often anchored by cafés or eateries that provide economic, social and gastronomical opportunities. Deloitte Summit at 410 West Georgia, for example, is home to Giovane Caffe and Bar Haifa, an offshoot of Toronto's chic Haifa Room.
Royal Centre’s renovation is set to complete by late 2025.
