Three new projects are set to rejuvenate Denman Street and give hope to long-struggling retailers who are tired of seeing businesses close or get bulldozed to make way for vacant lots.
New buildings are slated for two longtime vacant lots, and Denman Place Mall is readying for a makeover.
“It's a sad situation down here on Denman,” TopDrawers owner David King told Business in Vancouver. “I've been here for 23 years and I've never seen it like this. There have always been one or two vacancies, like with any main street, but the last few years Denman really has been suffering.”
King's underwear store is leaving its longtime location at the front of Denman Place Mall at the end of June because his lease is up and mall owners want to make renovations. He will relocate in a larger 675-square-foot location at the northwest corner of Davie and Howe streets.
“Everything has moved east over the years,” King said. “Denman used to be more central for downtown living. Now it seems to be more at the far edge of the city.”
He added that the housing stock near Denman Street is older and is attracting more seniors and others who have limited disposable income.
On top of that, the street is extremely seasonal, with few visitors from across the city during the winter.
Despite those negatives, landlords charge up to $70 per square foot for ground-floor space, according to brokers.
That's less than the $100-per-square-foot asking prices on south Granville and the $200-plus-per-square-foot asking prices in the 1,000-block of Robson Street, but it is evidently too much for many businesses to be viable on Denman Street, brokers say.
CBRE Canada senior vice-president Mario Negris, who is leasing space in the Denman Place Mall, said the complex's revamp will include an expanded space for an anchor tenant.
Negris is also leasing space directly across the street from the mall. There, George Loh Ltd. has launched construction on its long-vacant space, which has sat empty since the building that once housed restaurants such as Mr. Pickwick's Fish and Chips was demolished. Zoning and remediation work were responsible for the delay, Negris said.
He expects the 12-unit, two-level retail complex, located between Nelson Street and south to a lane, to be ready for occupancy by February 2015.
Wesgroup is another developer active on the strip.
Its director of leasing, Bob Nicholson, told BIV that Wesgroup will launch construction of a three-storey retail project at the corner of Pendrell and Denman streets as soon as it leases the upper two floors.
Its previous plan was to build the project to suit a single, large tenant such as a drugstore.
City restrictions tied to the West End community plan adopted in November are keeping both construction projects from adding residential units above the retail stores. The community plan's policy section reveals that its rationale to deter housing on Denman Street is “to ensure vibrancy at all times of the day.”
“It's crazy,” said Retail Insider retail analyst Craig Patterson, who believes that the result of the community plan is that the upper-level retail units will fail.
“Haven't they learned anything from the Robson Public Market?” he asked. “Any time you do something like [having upper-floor retail,] it fails.”
Indeed, north on Denman Street toward Robson Street, past empty storefronts where the Grove Inn, Flying Wedge and South Van Produce were once tenants, is a development where, long ago, the Starlight Cinema entertained moviegoers.
Blenz Coffee anchors the site, which has two street-front vacancies. There are also four vacant spaces upstairs, which were once part of a restaurant but have been repurposed for retail, said Coldwell Banker broker Jack Stephanian. •
