Kathy Stilwell

I toured The new Woodwards Condo building in Gastown today for the first time. What struck me was how it is going to change the face of the area, so dramatically. What was once the hub of Vancouver is being brought back to life, with the Woodwards project.

The Woodward's building was a historic building in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The original portion of the building was constructed in 1903 for the Woodward's Department Store when that area of Cordova Street was the heart of Vancouver's retail shopping district. At one time, this was the premiere shopping destination in Vancouver. The store was famous for its Christmas window displays which I remember making special trips every christmas season to go and see, it was part of the christmas tradition. There was its basement Food Floor, and the "W" sign at the top of the building was a distinctive landmark on the Vancouver skyline. Since the bankruptcy of Woodward's in 1993, the building remained vacant except for squatting incidents. Developing this building was seen by many as a key to revitalizing the Downtown Eastside, however the demolition of the structure in 2006 and redevelopment of the site has met with some local resistance from the existing residents of the neighborhood. The Woodward's redevelopment is to be completed in the fall of 2009.

The building was built in 1903 by Charles Woodward, as the second location for the Woodward's department store. Woodward's pioneered the concept of one-stop shopping; the store included a food floor which was at the time North America's largest supermarket, household items, men's and women's fashion, and provided cheque cashing, travel booking and other services. The store was well-known for carrying a large variety of goods that were not available anywhere else. The store soon became a feature attraction in Vancouver, and it expanded over 12 separate phases to a final size of 12 storeys. It occupied approximately 2/3 of the city block. The popularity of Woodward's attracted many other businesses to the area. In 1944, the landmark "W" was installed on the top of the building on a 25 metre replica of the Eiffel Tower, replacing a pre-war searchlight-beacon which had until then been the building's hallmark. The beacon, which was visible at night from as far away as Abbotsford and Mission, was shut down at the beginning of World War II because of its potential use as a landmark for aerial attacks.

Woodward's fortunes declined as customers gravitated to more suburban malls, but the Vancouver location was also greatly impacted by the transfer of the Eaton's department store from its location at West Hastings and Richards (a few blocks away), to the uptown location of Pacific Centre kitty-corner from The Bay, which signalled the demise of West Hastings Street as the central retail district in the city. In the 1980s, Woodward's sold the food floor - long known for its quality and its line of unusual specialities - to Safeway. The flagship food floor became an IGA store until the building closed as Safeway showed no interest in that location. During the same time, the area around the Woodward's building started to decline socially and economically. In 1993, Woodward's went bankrupt and closed its doors. Many of the store's suburban locations were sold to the Hudson's Bay Company for conversion to Zellers and Bay stores, but there was little interest in the historic downtown building. The closing of the Woodward's store precipitated an even more rapid decline in the area.

When Bob Rennie of Rennie Marketing systems launched the project over 3 years ago they advertising campaign was an in your face statement. "Be bold or move to suburbia!"Daring you to be the first to believe that this area could become what is used to be in it's hayday.. 

Well The wait is finally over….Gastown’s newest Vancouver landmark property is now ready for move-in. Woodwards! is a masterpiece in design – from architecture to planning, this unique building is a one of a kind. Enjoy panoramic views of mountains, water and city from the upper floors, Be proud to call this home, with funky laminate floors, polished concrete ceilings, S/S appliances, stone C/T, designer doors and tiles. Amenities are unsurpassed: Club W features an indoor/outdoor lounging oasis – library, media room, hot tub, gardens, gym, lounge space and so much more.

I was very impressed by all I saw and think this is just the beginning of the newest up and coming neighborhood. For those who Where Brave..and didn't move to suberbia..

A litte more you might like to know about the Woodwards building..

In 2003, the City of Vancouver led by Jim Green purchased the building from the province for $5 million, and began a unique public consultation process, asking the community what they wanted from the redevelopment. After a two stage competition between three developers, in September 2004 the city selected Westbank Projects/Peterson Investment Group to develop and Gregory Henriquez of Henriquez Partners Architects to lead the design of the new buildings, with Glotman Simpson as the Structural Engineers. The 400 million dollar project, includes 536 market housing units, 125 singles non-market housing units to be operated by PHS Community Services, 75 family non-market housing units to be operated by Affordable Housing Society, Nestors Food Store and London Drugs, TD Canada Trust, The National Film Board of Canada and civic offices, a daycare, public atrium and plaza, and a new addition to the Simon Fraser University downtown campus: the 130,000 sf School for Contemporary Arts. The oldest part of the complex (built 1903–1908) will be restored, and will serve as non-profit office and community space (31,500 sf). Construction began in winter of 2006, with a completion scheduled for the end of 2009.

The "W" neon sign, which topped the building on the Eiffel Tower replica, was removed before the demolition and will be replicated and installed when the new development is complete.[1] The Vancouver artist Stan Douglas is currently completing a 30' by 50' image on glass depicting the Gastown Riots (pot riots) of 1971. The over-sized photograph will become the central focus within the atrium of the new Woodward's Redevelopment.

If you are interested in Woodwards, please send me an email at kathystilwell@gmail.com or call me at 604-341-0101