What next for the Sears Building?

You may have read that Sears is closing its downtown Vancouver store, located in the block bounded by Howe, Granville and Robson. They’ve had the remainder of their lease bought out by property-owner Cadillac-Fairview for the princely sum of $170million… sort of a severance package of sorts, and one that will apparently allow the struggling retailer to focus its efforts on other stores.

This move certainly has gotten people talking. No sooner did we finish reading up on the story than folks started to contact us to pass along the news.

There’s clearly lots of interest in what will happen next. The Globe and Mail, for one, speculated that US-retailer Nordstrom might take over the site. Design-critic Trevor Boddy, on CBC radio this morning, said he felt that the (dare we say “iconic”) building makes an ideal site for the Vancouver Art Gallery expansion. Our pal Gord Price is on deck for an early afternoon interview as well.

The Sears building certainly is notable. It has its fans, to be sure. And it has the distinction of being designed by ‘starchitect’ César Pelli. It’s also listed on the City’s heritage register.

But it also has its detractors – and has been derided as “one of the city’s worst eyesores.” Something we’ve heard a fair bit over the years.

Given the prominence of the building to Robson Square, we’ve enjoyed often wondered what the ‘Sears’ site might be like if the building wasn’t there. It was a question that was on the mind of a number of entrants during our Where’s the Square? Ideas Competition a few years ago.

One of the submissions proposed consolidating the built form of the block to open up the southern half for an expanded public square:

Another entrant envisioned a more arcadian treatment – literally splitting the building in half and opening it up as a multi-level public space

Given the real estate economics behind the lease buy-out, we imagine that neither of these options will be front-of-mind for Cadillac-Fairview. But having said that, it’s still nice to dream…

The York Hotel – on the site of the current Sears Building – CVA 99-3995

The city, after all, is always changing. Before there was Sears there was Eaton’s (in the same building). And before there was Eaton’s there was the old York Hotel. Buildings get built, they last, they change uses. And then? There’s longevity for some and not for others, and the factors that determine these sorts of things aren’t always that easy to predict.