It’s a plan that’s been on the community’s wish list for years and Vancouver Chinatown business leaders are once again pushing to revitalize a largely vacant and neglected city-owned space in the heart of the neighbourhood.
CoqouDak owner Jimmy Cho moved his Korean fried chicken restaurant into Chinatown Plaza on Keefer Street in January and said business has been slowly growing since.
“I would love to see more tenants move into the plaza cause it would drive more foot traffic into the plaza,” Cho said Thursday. “Plus it will create more business for me as well.”
Area merchants said Chinatown Plaza’s opening in 1995 marked a victory – with a retail concourse, street-level shops, offices, health care, the 1,000-seat Chinese restaurant Floata, and a seven-storey parkade – all in a city-owned property.
“It’s heartbreaking to see this space slowly deteriorate over time,” said Ross Lam with the Vancouver Chinatown Merchants Association (VCMA).
Three decades later following a global pandemic and a declining number of visitors, the ground floor of the once-vibrant mall is nearly 70 per cent empty with 15 of 22 retail units unleased.
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“Chinatown Plaza was envisioned to be an anchor for Chinatown and it no longer can serve that purpose with the vacancies,” Lam told Global News.
180 Keefer Street was recently assessed at $2 for its land and buildings, while the combined assessed value of all 27 retail units including Floata and the parkade totals $16,081,300.
With the prime publicly-owned real estate languishing for well over a decade, the VCMA and Chinatown BIA are working with the City of Vancouver to transform the dying mall into a shopping space that celebrates the community’s culture and fosters prosperity.
“The hope is to revive it as a ‘magnet’ again, drawing people in with unique experiences, food, and cultural businesses that enrich Chinatown,” according to VCMA website.
It’s a pitch that’s been made before.
In April 2022, Vancouver Chinatown BIA president Jordan Eng told Global News he presented a preliminary proposal on reinventing Chinatown Plaza to the city in May 2020.
Eng said he hoped to see the city-owned mall brought to life as a neighbourhood food hub or culinary centre with food stalls, a market, and an Asian cooking school.
The City of Vancouver said it commissioned a study to investigate potential options to improve the commercial mix and opportunities of the Chinatown Plaza, but Eng said the BIA was not given access to the resulting report.
Prior to the pandemic, the city said the plaza’s vacancy rate was six per cent.
Currently, the city said Chinatown Plaza’s vacancy rate is 17 per cent of the total leasable area, down from 28 per cent in April 2022.
“I think the city needs to do better,” SFU city program director Andy Yan told Global News in an interview. “I think it needs to do better not only here in Chinatown but throughout the City of Vancouver when it comes to commercial retail space.
I think that there’s a level of creativity in terms of particularly renting space that’s owned by the city of Vancouver.”
Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung believes municipal bureaucracy may be to blame for the slow progress in reinvigorating Chinatown Plaza.
“I think sometimes our own rules get in the way of creativity and innovation,” Kirby-Yung said Thursday. “It really needs to have a concept I think to ensure that it is fully utilized and tenanted – so that requires the city of Vancouver to think creatively and hopefully, that’s finally happening now.”
The VCMA said it is currently engaging with Chinatown food and retail businesses for ideas and insights in order to develop a compelling “concept vision” for a reimagined Chinatown Plaza.
“It’s critical to the revitalization of Chinatown for Chinatown Plaza to once again flourish as it did when it first opened,” Lam said in an interview Thursday.
Drop-in sessions to gain community input on helping shape the future of Chinatown Plaza were held May 7 and 8.
Those interested in sharing ideas and inspirations for the city-owned mall can also participate in an online survey before May 12.
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