More luxury retailers announced for new Oakridge Park mall

Artistic rendering of the new indoor mall area of Oakridge Park (Oakridge Centre). (Revery Architecture/Westbank/Quadreal Property Group)

Another lineup of retailers has been announced for Vancouver’s new Oakridge Park shopping mall, previously known as Oakridge Centre.

Today, Quadreal Property Group named seven additional luxury brands for the mall, which reestablishes and expands on the mall’s previous designation as one of the two luxury retail hubs of Metro Vancouver, with the other being downtown Vancouver, specifically Alberni Street.

The seven retailers named today are a mix of jewellers and watchmakers, including the return of Tiffany & Co., to the mall in a space about 5,200 sq ft, which is more than half the size of the Alberni Street flagship.

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In an interview with Daily Hive Urbanized on Tuesday, Chrystal Burns, the executive vice president of Canadian retail for Quadreal Property Group, says this continues the mall’s long-term partnership with Tiffany & Co.

There will also be a 6,000 sq ft Rolex store and a 4,500 sq ft Bvlgari store, which will be the brand’s first standalone location.

France’s Chaumet, a brand that will make headlines later this year for designing the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics medals, will open its first standalone store in North America at the mall.

Other standalone store openings include globally renowned Chinese jeweller Chow Tai Fook, American jeweller David Yurman and watchmaker Jacob & Company, and Swiss watchmakers TAG Heuer and Tudor.

Jacob & Company’s location at Oakridge Park will be the brand’s first standalone store in Canada and its largest store in western North America. This will also be the first Vancouver store location for David Yurman and TAG Heuer.

“The inauguration of the second Rolex and TUDOR boutique by Global Watch Company in Vancouver is poised to establish the store as one of the most iconic luxury destinations in the city. The opening represents an exciting prospect for Vancouver’s global recognition and economic vitality,” said Sassan Pourfar, founder of Global Watch Company, in a statement.

“Anticipated is a surge in tourists drawn to Oakridge Park by the grandeur of Rolex’s exquisite craftsmanship and unparalleled heritage in luxury timepieces, alongside the innovative spirit and distinct design ethos of TUDOR. The opening of these two iconic boutiques will indeed elevate Vancouver’s status as a premier destination for high-end retail experiences.”

Artistic rendering of Oakridge Park’s new indoor mall. (Revery Architecture/Westbank/Quadreal Property Group)

Artistic rendering of the new indoor mall at Oakridge Park. (Revery Architecture/Westbank/Quadreal Property Group)

These seven brands add to the initial major announcement made in February 2024 on the opening of luxury brands Louis Vuitton, Prada, Brunello Cucinelli, Moncler, Versace, Max Mara, Maison Margiela, Miu Miu, Christian Louboutin, and Alexander Wang,

While luxury retailers will be one of the key components of the retail offerings at the new mall, there will be a wider mix of other types of retail, businesses, and services — in addition to dining — that have yet to be announced.

Burns told Daily Hive Urbanized that Canadian brands will be announced this summer, and fashion brands will be made public in the early fall.

She says the first major phase of the mall, accounting for the majority of the retail/restaurant offerings, is still on target to open by Spring 2025 — when 650,000 sq ft of leasable retail space with over 100 businesses in an indoor mall area will open.

In late February, the project’s contractor, EllisDon, briefly paused construction work following the fatality of a construction worker who was hit by falling debris.

As previously announced, the Spring 2025 openings will include Canada’s second Time Out Market food hall location, which will replace the mall’s previous traditional food court concept. Instead of the originally envisioned two-storey food hall concept, Time Out Market Vancouver will span one level with 51,000 sq ft containing a curated high-quality cultural mix of 17 live cooking kitchens, with a wide range of cuisines, three bars, and a coffee shop.

The mezzanine above the food hall, the upper indoor level, will include a signature cocktail lounge, an event space, a demonstration kitchen, and open up to a 10,000 sq ft patio on the rooftop public park.

oakridge park oakridge centre tower construction march 24 2024 f

Construction progress on the initial residential towers of Oakridge Park (Oakridge Centre) as of March 24, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

In addition to Time Out Market, the mall’s other largest retailers — the anchor retailers — will be Hudson’s Bay and Safeway, which are both returning businesses. The Safeway grocery store will be adjacent to a Signature BC Liquor Store, which will open in Spring 2025.

A yet-to-be-announced large-scale wellness/fitness social club will open in a space that is accessible from the nine-acre rooftop public park, with most of this unique park also slated to open in Spring 2025.

Burns notes that between now and this fall, EllisDon will be handing over the completed barebone retail commercial unit spaces to the various businesses, which is a step that enables the separate contractors of the retail brands and restaurants to build out the purpose-designed interior spaces of each business.

Oakridge Park includes a City-owned 22-storey tower with social housing and a 100,000 sq ft community centre with a new replacement and expanded Oakridge branch of the Vancouver Public Library. This tower is nearing completion, but the specific opening timing of these facilities depends on the municipal government’s final work to outfit the spaces.

The first four residential towers, largely condominiums, will be ready for occupancy in 2025.

oakridge park oakridge centre mall 2022 rendering

Artistic rendering of the revised design of the Oakridge Park (Oakridge Centre) redevelopment. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank/Quadreal Property Group)

Beyond retail, as part of the overall five million sq ft redevelopment, Oakridge Park will have a total of 10 residential towers with over 3,000 homes for more than 6,000 residents, including nearly 1,000 secured purpose-built rental homes. Significant additional rental housing was approved by the municipal government in 2022 following a revised rezoning application — one of the numerous major design changes the project has seen throughout its history dating back to the late 2000s. Other major non-residential uses will be office space — the base podiums of various residential towers across the site will contain 700,000 sq ft of office space, enough to support about 3,000 office jobs.

Furthermore, beyond Spring 2025, future phases on the western side of the 28-acre mall site will add 200,000 sq ft of leasable retail space, which will be determined by market conditions. Burns says for the first phase opening next spring, additional tenants have signed on since the initial announcement this past February.

Altogether, upon full buildout, Oakridge Park will have 850,000 sq ft of leasable retail space for over 140 businesses. Oakridge Park’s leasable retail space accounts for approximately 70% of the 1.2 million sq ft of retail uses permitted for the redevelopment under the site’s rezoning. The remaining 30% (about 350,000 sq ft) is set aside for extensive circulation and common spaces, including the grand north and south atriums, internal mall corridors, and other major non-leasable indoor spaces. This total square footage represents a doubling of the size of the previous mall.

The mall is owned by Quadreal Property Group, which is wholly owned by British Columbia Investment Corporation (BCI) — the entity that oversees BC’s public sector pension plans. Quadreal oversees and maximizes BCI’s real estate investments, and Westbank is the development partner for Oakridge Park, with this mall and the newly completed The Post in downtown Vancouver being some of BCI’s largest assets.

To support shoppers, office workers, and other visitors, Oakridge Park’s first two underground levels will feature approximately 2,000 free vehicle parking stalls.

Major enhancements to Oakridge-41st Avenue Station on SkyTrain Canada Line are also currently in progress and timed for a Spring 2025 opening. This will include providing the subway station with a secondary entrance via an underground retail-lined corridor between the station’s ticketing concourse and the mall’s north atrium under an expansive skylight.

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