New Flagship Downtown Vancouver Apple Store Rumoured at Pacific Centre

More rumours of a new Apple Store in Vancouver are coming your way, based on a development application to redevelop the rotunda area at CF Pacific Centre into a two-storey retail building.

According to Daily Hive:

A development application recently submitted by Perkins + Will Architects on behalf of Cadillac Fairview outlines a proposal to redevelop the CF Pacific Centre rotunda entrance building — the northeast corner of the intersection of West Georgia Street and Howe Street — into a new two-storey retail pavilion building.

An official announcement at this location has not been made by the company, but all signs lead to this being the long-sought Apple Store Vancouver flagship.

Currently, here’s what the location looks like at the Pacific Centre entrance on West Georgia and Howe:

Pacific centre vancouver

…and here’s an artist’s rendering of the proposed two-storey development, which includes floor to ceiling glass facades and looks exactly like new Apple Stores we’ve seen emerge, in other cities in the United States:

701 west georgia vancouver pacific centre rotunda 2019 1



The proposed store will face towards the Vancouver Art Gallery’s North Plaza and also have an entrance from the inside of Pacific Centre.

“The project works to strengthen and frame the connection to the square – while reproviding and enhancing the public space surrounding the building,” reads the architect’s description of the site.

Back in the fall of 2017, Apple launched a new flagship store in Chicago, Illinois, featuring 32-foot glass facades, a massive carbon fibre roof (which resembles a MacBook lid) plus an integrated design for the riverfront site:

The newest Apple Stores usually are designed by the iPhone maker’s go-to architect, Foster + Partners (they also designed Apple Park). However, the proposal submitted above is from Perkins + Will Architects, a local Vancouver company.

The existing downtown Apple Store within Pacific Centre is a very small location compared to other locations in Metro Vancouver. It opened back in May of 2008, in time for customer purchases of an iPhone 3G, the successor to the original iPhone.



In 2011, Apple was rumoured to take over the retail location of the former HMV and Virgin Megastore, but never materialized.

Back in 2014, Apple was rumoured to expand their downtown location by moving it to a larger space, below Nordstrom at Pacific Centre, but that didn’t happen either.

Last fall, Apple had reportedly inked a deal to lease a 60,000 square foot office space in downtown Vancouver, along West Georgia Street.

Will this location be home to a future Apple Store? The proposal screams “Apple Store”, but for now, we’ll just have to wait and see. If you hear anything about this development, feel free to let us know.

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