Vancouver’s newest office tower officially opens today, marking many firsts for the city, as well as the developer.
Credit Suisse has been working for years on the redevelopment of the Old Stock Exchange Building, which involved the complete restoration of the 1929 heritage portion of the building, and the addition of a 31-storey LEED Platinum office tower above.
The development features 372,000 sq ft. of AAA office space, and is Vancouver’s tallest LEED Platinum office tower.
Architect Harry Gugger — who also designed London’s acclaimed Tate Modern — says the design of the new tower does not attempt to dominate or compete with the strengths of the original building, but instead successfully works together with it to create an overall composition that looks at Vancouver’s future without obscuring its past.
Gugger worked with Vancouver-based Iredale Group Architecture on the project.
The development is Canada’s first LEED Platinum heritage conversion with the restoration of the Old Stock Exchange building, and Credit Suisse’s first development in North America in its 161-year history.
With Vancouver’s office market currently experiencing a shortage, The Exchange is already almost two-thirds leased. Its anchor tenant, National Bank, is the second-oldest and sixth largest bank in Canada, and will occupy 45,000 sq ft. of The Exchange.
Executive Hotels will operate a luxury boutique hotel in the heritage portion of the building, while a Vancouver accounting firm, Smythe LLP, and a fintech company, HyperWallet Systems, occupying a total of 50,500 sq ft. Swiss chocolatier Lindt has opened a retail store on the ground level, and Sovereign General Insurance recently signed a lease.
The Exchange is also the winner of the 2017 American Architecture Prize for Heritage Architecture (LEED Platinum).
