Plans call for former HSBC offices in Vancouver’s Chinatown district to be redeveloped as a limited-service hotel.

The property is located at the corner of Main and Keefer Streets. W.T. Leung Architects has filed a development application with the city to convert the third, fourth and five floors of the five-storey building into hotel suites.

W.T. Leung is seeking permission to add a sixth floor within the mixed-use building’s existing shell. The building’s owner wants to complete the conversion “due to current and foreseeable very weak demand for office space,” said W.T. Leung in its application.

The Vancouver-based architecture firm designed the building, which is about 28 years old. HSBC occupied the building up until about six years ago, when the company relocated and downsized.

London-based HSBC has since sold its Canadian assets to the Royal Bank of Canada and left the country.

Van City credit union occupies most of the ground floor and the entire second floor. Two other commercial tenants are also located at street level.

The building’s exterior will undergo minimal revisions, and the ground floor entrances will remain largely unchanged while functioning as the hotel’s reception.

Approximately 38% of the fifth floor and the new sixth floor will include a two-storey suite connected by stairs. Existing elevators will not be extend to the new floor.

Underground parking spaces will also remain in place.

Photo: W.T. Leung Architects