West Vancouver's Park Royal mall expanding
Construction has begun on a new open-air shopping complex at the Park Royal South shopping centre, containing sought-after European and American retailers, public gathering spaces and possibly a “state-of-the-art” movie theatre.
While the exact names of the 15 to 20 new stores aren’t being released yet, Rick Amantea, vice-president of Park Royal, said many would be unique to Western Canada — and even Canada, overall.
Construction on the project is underway now, and will be mostly finished by the fall of next year.
A movie theatre with as many as 11 screens could be added but more community consultation needs to be done before the decision is made, Amantea said.
“The [theatre screens] will be state-of-the art. In Metro Vancouver, there won’t be anything like them,” said Amantea in a phone interview with The Outlook.
Park Royal hasn’t had a movie theatre for more than a decade after the original one was torn down to make way for The Village but Amantea said the public is eager to see a new one built.
The new complex, which will be similar in design to The Village, will be built underneath 250 additional stalls on two levels. The Keg in front of Park Royal South will be moved to make room for two more buildings.
Unlike The Village’s seaside theme, the new complex will have a classic and contemporary feel to match the high-end retailers moving in, Amantea said. But the open-air centre will have gathering spaces, public art and water features, similar to The Village.
In the second phase of the project, which would be completed by the spring of 2014, apartments could be built where White Spot sits. Amantea said an application will be submitted this fall to rezone the area for residential development, which could be a mix of market and rental units.
“For years we’ve always been a mixed-use environment,” he said, adding that residential, office, entertainment and retailers exist well side-by-side at Park Royal.
To add to the construction frenzy, crews are currently tearing out the meridian on Marine Drive between Park Royal North and South. Existing shrubs, trees and the chain-link fence will be replaced with new curbing and bus layovers. The overpass will be torn down to accommodate a new intersection to ease traveling between the two centres.
“The Park Royal Village Retail Expansion is an exciting component in the continuing evolution of Park Royal,” Amantea said.
“It not only creates an environment that allows us to attract high quality merchants and services, but it also provides entertaining and memorable shopping experiences that customers have told us they want to see more of at Park Royal.”
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