Alexander Wang, Brunello Cucinelli, Canada Goose, Christian Louboutin, Dolce & Gabbana, Harry Rosen, Loewe, Longchamp, Loro Piana and Louis Vuitton are among the brands opening in Vancouver’s giant mixed-use project.Alexander Wang, Brunello Cucinelli, Canada Goose, Christian Louboutin, Dolce & Gabbana, Harry Rosen, Loewe, Longchamp, Loro Piana and Louis Vuitton are among the brands opening in Vancouver’s giant mixed-use project.
An epicenter for luxury and upscale retailing is emerging in the 5 million-square-foot, mixed-use Oakridge Park, Canada‘s largest redevelopment, opening May 28 just south of downtown Vancouver.
The luxury lineup includes Alexander Wang, Chanel, Ferragamo, Brunello Cucinelli, Canada Goose, Christian Louboutin, Dolce & Gabbana, Harry Rosen, Loewe, Longchamp, Loro Piana, Louis Vuitton, Maison Margiela, Max Mara, Miu Miu, Moncler, Prada, Thom Browne, Versace, Acne Studios and Valentino.
Luxury jewelry and watch brands opening at Oakridge Park are Bulgari, Chaumet, Chow Tai Fook, David Yurman, Leah Alexandra, Rolex, Swarovski, Tag Heuer, Tiffany & Co. and Tudor.
You May Also Like
And several contemporary fashion, beauty and wellness brands are in the mix, including Alo, Arc’teryx, Aritzia, Brown Shoes, Boss, Coach, Diptyque, Green Tee Golf Shop, Lululemon, Lush Brow Bar, Maje, Mophead, Sandro, Sephora, Sisley Paris, Sporting Life, Petit Pont and Veronica Beard.
Oakridge Park’s shopping center has 650,000 square feet of retail, with 100 stores, about 85 percent of which will be open for business May 28.
Within that 650,000 square feet is a 140,000-square-foot former Hudson’s Bay department store being re-merchandised with a 55,000-square-foot Altea fitness and wellness club among other uses seen opening their doors a year from now.
In another phase of development further into the future, Oakridge Park is planning an “open format, village-style” retail setting adding 250,000 square feet more of retail space to the project.
Oakridge Park is a project of QuadReal Property Group and Westbank. QuadReal is a Vancouver-based global real estate investment, development and management company with 98 billion Canadian dollars in assets. Among QuadReal’s largest assets are 22 Bishopsgate and Space House in London, and The Post Building in downtown Vancouver. QuadReal is the real estate arm of the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. Westbank is a prominent Canadian real estate development company known for luxury projects and also headquartered in Vancouver.
Oakridge Park, located about 15 minutes from downtown Vancouver, is on the site of a former 1980s enclosed, regional shopping mall that was called Oakridge Center. “The retailers at that time had performances that [ranked] either first or second in Canada in terms of productivity per square foot,” Chrystal Burns, executive vice president, Canadian retail experience for QuadReal, told WWD. “So Oakridge Park is situated on a well-established retail node that’s very well connected with the rapid transit line between downtown Vancouver and Vancouver International Airport,” Burns said.
The complex anticipates attracting 40 million visitors annually, including 28 million just for shopping. It will be competing with Vancouver’s main shopping destinations, among them the CF Pacific Centre; Robson Street; the Metropolis at Metrotown, which is considered the largest mall in British Columbia with more than 400 stores located about 20 minutes from downtown; the Park Royal Shopping Centre
in West Vancouver with around 280 retailers; CF Richmond Centre, with more than 200 stores located near the airport, and the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet center, which is also near the airport.
Aside from the robust retail lineup, Oakridge Park features a nearly nine-acre public park where about 10,000 trees have been planted, four residential towers, office space, a library, a civic center, a community center and six stages for performances.
“It’s a truly integrated mixed-use development. It’s the biggest redevelopment that Canada has ever seen,” Burns said.
Also opening at Oakridge Park is the Delysees Champagne Bar, and Vancouver’s first Time Out Market bringing in local chefs and culinary talent, such as Feenie’s by Chef Rob Feenie, Mee Bar from Chanthy Yen, Lunch Lady, MaKaam from Baan Lao, DownLow Chicken, Barnacle by Bar Bravo and Peacock by Chef Vikram Vij, among others.
“The city is very excited about this opening,” Burns said. “It’s been 10 years in the making. We have an amazing assortment of luxury retailers, lots of cultural and dining offerings, and we’re going to have one of the biggest Time Out Markets globally, with 40,000 square feet on the inside and 10,000 on an outside deck” overlooking the park. “We’ve dedicated a lot of space to these open format gathering spaces, which I think creates a different feel, and sets Oakridge Park apart from anything else.”
The city of Vancouver recently rezoned the area for higher density, allowing QuadReal to build towers on the site, Burns explained. The towers will have both rental apartments and condos, and the city will operate the civic center and the affordable housing component.
“It’s just everything in one place, which is where we believe retail is going,” Burns said. “It’s all about that experience, the dwell time, and spending time with family and friends.”
“Oakridge Park was envisioned as a living city, where nature, culture, community and urban life come together in a deeply connected way,” Gregory Henriquez, principal at Henriquez Partners Architects, which designed the project, said in a statement. “The goal was to reimagine the traditional shopping center as a complete urban neighborhood. Through this vision, the team has woven public space, housing, retail, art, transit and community amenities into one dynamic and inclusive destination for Vancouver, creating a place designed to evolve alongside the city for generations to come.”
