[Rusty Gull]

The Pier Hotel at the corner of Esplanade and Lonsdale is slated to open in November. It is actually starting to take shape nicely, and will include a small convention space (probably useful for the North Shore). Unfortunately, it does not -yet- have a name hotel (ie, Westin or Marriott) for the facility.

Personally, this would be a great opportunity for one of the up-and-coming hotel brands (ie, Residence Inn, which is a sub-brand of the Marriott chain) to establish their brand on the North Shore, as there are really only or two hotels you could stay at currently in the area for business.

The large structure shrouded in white that is visible from downtown Vancouver is a massive restored crane, which should add some character to the area. A performance stage close by has also been installed recently.

It will be interesting to see whether the area can become the public gathering place as envisioned by planners.