Vancouver’s long-awaited Oakridge Park retail centre opened Thursday with an official ribbon-cutting and gala ceremony that included ballet dancers, leading commercial real estate executives and local politicians.

Wesbank CEO Ian Gillespie said the redeveloped Oakridge shopping centre will serve as a “cultural hub” for decades to come. The event marked the first major enclosed urban shopping centres in Canada dating back to the 1980s.

The project has had a multiplying effect on the Oakridge community with many diverse real estate projects underway or in the planning stage. But the new retail facility is “not about Oakridge,” said Gillespie in an interview with Connect.

“It’s about Vancouver,” he said, adding that the new retail centre will impact the city well inot the future.

Gillespie said Thursday’s opening came after he started planning the shopping centre’s redevelopment following the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

“It’s decades of work,” Gillespie told Connect. “You mostly feel happy for all the people that contributed so much. They’re the ones that don’t get called out.

“It’s mostly for them. I think that now it’s really about the city embracing it. It’s the city’s project.”

Westbank co-owns Oakridge Park with QuadReal Property Group, which serves as the asset and property manager.

“QuadReal will end up owning it, but it’s really all about the community embracing it,” said Gillespie. “It’s their project now.”

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim participated in the ribbon-cutting with Gillespie and other and a number of city councillors attended the event.

The 650,000-square-foot mixed-use destination will feature more than 100 brands spanning luxury fashion, jewelry, beauty, wellness and lifestyle retail.

Gillespie said in the interview that Oak Ridge Park has been built as a “city hub, a new town centre.”

“That was the whole idea: Let’s put town centres where transit is, and that will support the transit and get more people out of cars, more people into transit, more people connected, more people living in a tighter, more low-carbon environment,” he said. “That’s one of the things I forgot to say when I was talking [during the ceremony.] That was one of our principles, getting people living in a low-carbon environment, more sustainable, getting them out of their cars.”

The opening came after a planned fall 2025 launch was postponed amid construction delays. The five-year project is part of an overhaul of the former Oakridge shopping centre that will also include multi-residential buildings and office components that are still to come.

Oakridge Park’s newly announced luxury tenants include Chanel and Ferragamo, joining retailers such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, Canada Goose, Rolex, Tiffany & Co., Aritzia and lululemon.

The project also introduced Time Out Market Vancouver, featuring local culinary concepts including Feenie’s, Mee Bar, Lunch Lady, MaKaam, DownLow Chicken, Barnacle by Bar Bravo, Peacock, Via Tevere, Kishimoto, Santo Taco, Heritage Asian Eatery, Mello and Boba Run.

Oakridge Park is also debuting Delysees Champagne Bar, described by the developers as a luxury champagne-bar concept designed to create a high-end social experience within the shopping centre.

The revamped retail centre will host year-round community programming and events focused on food, wellness, fashion and the holidays. Opening celebrations will include live music performances throughout June, floral installations by Fleurs de Villes, complimentary floral bouquets and portrait illustrations tied to gift card and retail purchases, as well as free pilates, barre and ballet classes in partnership with retailers and local studios.

“It’s bricks and mortar,” said Gillespie. “It’s a question of what you do with them. Hopefully, we’ve created the body. We’ve created the architecture. Now, it’s how we use it and bring it to life. That’s really what matters.”

Some stores have yet to open and will do so. With the retail component largely complete, QuadReal is looking forward to multi-family housing, including below market housing, recreational and community-service offerings.

“We’ll have a nice outdoor patio and an amazing public space. In addition, as Ken has noted, to be more specific, we’ll provide 188 affordable homes to the city. We’ll provide some much-needed low-cost housing.

“In a year, we’ll provide a 100,000-square-feet community centre that will have recreational facilities, a senior center, a daycare centre, and a Vancouver Public Library,” said QuadReal CEO Dennis Lopez during a speech. “In a few months, we’ll be opening 720,000 square feet of office space, which will be some of the most activated office space in the city. And then by year-end, we’ll complete over 900 homes.

“I hope we can all appreciate the massive, absolutely massive scope of this project.”

Over the past decade, he said, the developers have overcome “obstacle after obstacle,” including the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact on online shopping, supply-chain disruptions and global events that included “unprecedented inflation, trade wars and real wars.”

He called Thursday’s opening a “defining moment” for QuadReal and Vancouver as a whole.

“We seek to build communities,” he said. “And, our focus is to build vibrant communities centered around housing, public space, sustainability, and human connection.”

After the opening ceremony, thousands of interested people streamed into Oakridge Park, checking out the stores, eating and drinking at Time Out Market, and shooting photos and videos of the sights and sounds.

Pictured: Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim (third from left) participates in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Oakrdige Park with QuadReal CEO Dennis Lopez, Westbank CEO Ian Gillespie (fifth from left), QuadReal Vice-president of Canadian Retail Crystal Burns (sixth from left) and others at Oakridge Park.

Photo: Monte Stewart. All rights reserved.

If you’re making investment, development, or lending decisions in today’s Canadian commercial real estate market, Connect CRE Canada in Toronto on June 25 is where you need to be. Join an audience of 200 investors, lenders, brokers, developers, and owners for high-level networking and timely discussions on the trends impacting today’s market. Hear from industry leaders at TD Asset Management, Starlight, Woodbourne Capital Management, REMAX, Fengate Asset Management, Stonebridge Financial, Yardi, and more. Register now to gain the insights and connections to navigate an evolving landscape.