Real estate developer Reliance Properties and Germain Hôtels saw an opportunity to convert a downtown Vancouver office building into a business that could help ease the city's lodging shortfall.
The Montreal-based hotel chain and developer, based in Vancouver, shelled out $70 million to buy the 12-storey building on West Hastings Street in Vancouver's Coal Harbour waterfront district.
The property, zoned for both office and hotel use, is just a few blocks from the Vancouver Convention Centre.
“This hotel will not only bring a new level of boutique hospitality to Vancouver but will also play a key role in shaping the city’s urban landscape and help to address Vancouver’s critical shortage of hotel rooms," Reliance Chief Executive Officer Jon Stovell said in a statement last year announcing the purchase.
The sale and conversion are aimed at addressing Vancouver's acute shortage of hotel rooms. Hotels in the city operate at an average 80% occupancy, spiking to 95% in peak travel months, according to Bob Levine, investment principal with Avison Young, who represented Reliance and Germain in the transaction.
Those occupancy levels are among the highest in North America as Vancouver benefits from increasing tourism and international meetings and events following a long drought in hotel development.
The lodging shortage has left soccer fans with slim pickings as they look for accommodations ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one of the world's most famous sporting events.
Just a dozen hotels opened in the city between 2002 and 2022, according to Levine.
Destination Vancouver, the city's tourism board, warned in 2023 that the region could lose more than $30 billion in spending and other economic impact by 2050 unless 20,000 hotel rooms are built in the greater region over the next 25 years to meet projected demand, of which half are needed in Vancouver alone.
The new hotel won't be finished in time for soccer fans, however. The 180-room Le Germain Hotel is targeting an opening date before 2029. The move to buy and convert the building for hotel use earned the project a 2026 CoStar Impact Award, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
About the project: Reliance bought the 116,182-square-foot offices at 1111 W. Hastings St. at the southwest corner of West Cordova and Thurlow streets near the Vancouver Convention Centre. After a full renovation, the companies plan to open a 180-room boutique Le Germain Hotel by 2029.
What the judges said: The panel noted that the conversion project is a bold and buzzworthy effort to convert an underused office building to a hotel in the lodging-starved city.
"It is challenging to make deals work in this environment, and I admire the creativity and level of execution required to do an office-to-hotel conversion," said Justin Smith, president of Hawkeye Wealth Ltd.
"The investment thesis for 1111 W. Hastings will be transformative," said Liz Firer-Gillespie, senior vice president with Balfour Pacific.
They made it happen: Reliance Properties CEO Jon Stovell and Germain Hôtels Co-Presidents Marie Pier Germain and Hugo Germain, who represent the second generation of the company's leadership, having taken over from founders Christiane and Jean-Yves Germain. Bob Levine and Michael Emmott of Avison Young helped arrange the sale of 1111 W. Hastings.
CoStar Research Manager Cassidy Betterton contributed to this report.