A builder with Hong Kong roots unveiled plans for a 30-storey hotel — including what it describes as micro rooms — in the heart of downtown Vancouver, the latest positive news for the city’s central business district.
Commercial builder Paul Y. Construction is planning a 393-key property for a site at 848 Seymour St., currently a parking lot, according to zoning application documents released by the city late last month.
The developer did not return messages seeking comment. It was not immediately clear from provincial records when the company acquired the four parcels that make up the 0.31-acre site or how much it paid. Provincial assessor records value the land at $26.3 million.
The plans come as hotel properties in Vancouver’s city center have enjoyed a rebound as the city emerges from the shutdowns and social distancing of the earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 12-month occupancy rate for properties in the city climbed to 63.4% as of Sept. 1, according to CoStar research, still shy of the market’s 80% occupancy rate pre-pandemic, but well on the road to recovery after hitting a pandemic low of 19.9% in March 2021.
Based in Vancouver, Paul Y. Construction has a 70-year history of working on projects in Hong Kong and Singapore, according to descriptions attached to planning documents filed with the city.
Along with full-size rooms and a bar and lounge space on the ground floor, the proposed project is planned to contain “a substantial amount of modestly priced micro-hotel rooms.”
Compact hotel rooms have become more popular, with brands including Marriott having experimented with smaller concepts.
Documents filed with the city show floor plans for the long-term rooms on floors 18 and above, with footprints that appeared to be between 400 and 500 square feet. Floor plans for the lower section, on floors 3 to 17, showed rooms half that size or smaller, including one labeled “Small Queen Room Type A3,” which appeared to be about 193 square feet.
Chicago architect Perkins & Will is attached to the project.