The Post | 67m | 27 fl | Completed

[whatnext]

Does anyone else look at this a bit askance? It almost makes it sound like the city is providing security at Amazon's request and taxpayers' expense. While a community police station may be needed here it also is near the Granville Strip. When I looked at the crime map, more "offenses against a person" occurred closer to Granville than The Post.

VPD community policing centre opens at Amazon's The Post office complex
Kenneth Chan
Nov 6 2025, 5:23 pm

A new community policing centre operated by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has now opened within the single largest office building in downtown Vancouver.

Previously located near the southern end of the Granville Strip, known as the Granville Community Policing Centre, it has been relocated to The Post office and retail complex in the Central Business District and is now known as the Downtown Community Policing Centre...

...The space for the policing hub was offered by QuadReal Property Group, the owner and developer of The Post.

Remco Daal, the president of Canadian real estate for Quadreal, said they first came up with the idea about 12 months ago to create a partnership for establishing such a policing hub.

This roughly coincides with a high-profile deadly incident in September 2024, when the entire area immediately outside The Post and the Queen Elizabeth Theatre became a large crime scene following two random, unprovoked stabbings ...

....“Having a visible, accessible centre right here at The Post will make a huge difference — from Amazon employees to nearby residents,” said Mayor Sim.

“I want to highlight the Amazon employees and let’s be incredibly real, in the not so distant past, this was a challenging neighbourhood and while the city’s gotten safer, there have been some pretty significant incidents that jarred people and we felt for not only the residents but the team members of Amazon that were coming in here who didn’t feel safe. And so, that’s why this was important.”...

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/down...real-vancouver

[idunno]

It really makes it seem like that!

Amazon is a powerful force - I wouldn't doubt that they hold a lot of sway. This is also the biggest office building in the city though, so it's not surprising.

[jollyburger]

Unless Amazon wants some volunteers to throw pamphlets at attackers then they aren't getting much value in their new security force.

I mean if they get the space for free then more money that can go into their programs?

[Spr0ckets]

If they're getting the space for free then wouldn't it have made some sense to have it be opened as a satellite post while the main community policing centre at South Granville remained in operation at that location in an area that undoubtedly sees more incidents and would benefit from more of a policing presence?

Yes, this area of the city could also use more of a police presence - especially with the Bay going belly up and essentially seeing their storefront areas become a homeless magnet, but I don't really see how letting the south Granville strip depreciate even farther helps the city any.

Which is what will undoubtedly happens when they relocate this hub from there.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

If they're getting the space for free then wouldn't it have made some sense to have it be opened as a satellite post while the main community policing centre at South Granville remained in operation at that location in an area that undoubtedly sees more incidents and would benefit from more of a policing presence?

Yes, this area of the city could also use more of a police presence - especially with the Bay going belly up and essentially seeing their storefront areas become a homeless magnet, but I don't really see how letting the south Granville strip depreciate even farther helps the city any.

Which is what will undoubtedly happens when they relocate this hub from there.

Having the Community Policing Centre in the Granville Entertainment District doesn't seem to have made much difference to that part of the Granville strip, so it's debatable if moving it will make much difference. It only operated between 10.00am and 5.00pm, six days a week, and had limited resources - a Neighbourhood Police Officer, an Operations Coordinator and volunteers.

It was in a City-owned SRO, and as the City are trying to close down the Granville SROs, there's possibly a future redevelopment (or switch to market rental) in the future for the building.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Having the Community Policing Centre in the Granville Entertainment District doesn't seem to have made much difference to that part of the Granville strip, so it's debatable if moving it will make much difference. It only operated between 10.00am and 5.00pm, six days a week, and had limited resources - a Neighbourhood Police Officer, an Operations Coordinator and volunteers.

It was in a City-owned SRO, and as the City are trying to close down the Granville SROs, there's possibly a future redevelopment (or switch to market rental) in the future for the building.

Not necessarily disagreeing, but on the "debatable" part, .....as to whether moving it will make much of a difference, .....it could always get worse.

It could be argued that in these kinds of "sketchy" parts of the city or of downtown, that even the mere visual of having a cop or two in the area walking around (however ineffective they may be based on their limited numbers) or the odd or occassional loading up of suspects into the paddy wagon, tends to do a lot towards enhancing a general feeling of security, .....or acting as a low level deterrent to more crime.

And yes, I realize that a lot of criminal activity would more likely happen in evenings/nightime or on weekends when the center is closed.

I do agree that a large part of the problem had probably more to do with limited (or lack of) resources, which is a higher-level city/municipality budgetary discussion - speaking as to why it may have been ineffective.

Hopefully that switch to rental or redevelopment happens sooner rather than later for that location.

[officedweller]

Lights on the stairs I only noticed today - could be new.

Pics by me.

[officedweller]

Arrowhead tree without a topper has reappeared.
The top doesn't light up at all so it looks really stubby at night.

Pic by me today.



From last year:

Originally Posted by officedweller

Christmas decorations.
Pic by me last Saturday.
Strange that "THE POST" signs on the Georgia side do not light up.

[jollyburger]

Zara founders' investment company. They bought an Amazon warehouse in Burnaby last year.

The previous largest transaction was Bentall Centre at 1.06 billion (?)

QuadReal sells The Post in largest office transaction in Vancouver history

QuadReal Property Group LP on Wednesday announced the sale of The Post office building in downtown Vancouver in a deal understood to be the largest office transaction in Vancouver history.

QuadReal, which is owned by pension fund British Columbia Investment Management Corp. (BCI), did not disclose the buyer or deal price in a press release.

“As per our agreement with the purchaser, we are unable to provide additional details,” a QuadReal spokesperson said.

An industry source told BIV that the buyer is Spain-based Pontegadea Group.

Wednesday’s announcement said QuadReal will remain as the property manager for The Post, a mixed-use office and retail property whose tenants include Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq:AMZN) and Sony Pictures Imageworks, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corp. (NYSE:SONY).

This transaction represents the largest single office transaction in Vancouver’s history, said Michael Emmott, principal with Avison Young (Canada) Inc.

“The property was acquired by a group with a truly international mandate to acquire the highest-calibre office properties in the highest-performing real estate markets all over the world,” he said.

“Therefore it is a real testament to the strength of Vancouver’s office market and indicative of the current demand for high-quality office product by investors.”

The Post opened in 2023 and is considered a Vancouver landmark due to its adaptive reuse of a mid-century Canada Post processing facility. While the transaction price was not disclosed, the property’s assessed value is $924,208,000 according to BC Assessment.

QuadReal’s other real estate investments in B.C. include the Oakridge Park joint venture with Westbank Corp. and Maple Leaf Self Storage, which it acquired earlier this year for close to $1 billion. Parent company BCI has $295 billion in assets under management, according to its website.

https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate...story-11514776

[officedweller]

Maybe Phase 2 of Oakridge will come sooner now!

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Maybe Phase 2 of Oakridge will come sooner now!

Or is it just helping bail out Phase 1? Has there been any scuttlebutt on how many residential sales they expect to close?

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Or is it just helping bail out Phase 1? Has there been any scuttlebutt on how many residential sales they expect to close?

Yeah, could be that too.
But what is QuadReal's interest in the residential part? Did they buy out Westbank?

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Yeah, could be that too.
But what is QuadReal's interest in the residential part? Did they buy out Westbank?

bb1510 said a few years ago there was some talk of QuadReal taking it all over with Westbank holding some kind of operational/marketing role. Or they hold that 85% ownership number that was mentioned in their Green Bond report.

[jollyburger]

More than $1.1 billion, all-cash

Land title records appear to confirm this detail, showing the Post’s ownership has changed to Pontegadea RE Canada, and a $700 million mortgage with TD Bank was discharged this week with no new pending mortgage on the property.

https://vancouversun.com/news/quadre...ding-vancouver

[urbanight93]

The Post's Christmas decorations are awful. No warmth or festive spirit, just a metal and neon corporate sponsorship project (pretty sure the blue and orange are Amazon's brand colours)

[officedweller]

Here are the interior decorations. Better than the outside ones.

Pic by me.

[kikin]

Originally Posted by urbanight93

The Post's Christmas decorations are awful. No warmth or festive spirit, just a metal and neon corporate sponsorship project (pretty sure the blue and orange are Amazon's brand colours)

the overall vibe of the building is awesome though, they do a really good job of keeping it clean and an oasis of good atmosphere right next to VPL, it is an asset to the neighborhood

[idunno]

^Agreed! It feels like a high quality, comfortable and safe space which always has a buzz going, though it's a little quiet on the north end.

Hopefully people-flow will even out once the North Office Tower opens next spring/summer and a few of the other retailers open up.

[officedweller]

Good point, especially since the north side if close to Cathedral Square (over the substation) and a stone's throw from the DTES.

[kikin]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Good point, especially since the north side if close to Cathedral Square (over the substation) and a stone's throw from the DTES.

and nice to see since Richards heading toward Hastings is pretty sketchy in parts because of the SRO there... it is good knowing the neighborhood because if you walk Seymour it is nice, Richards sketchy, Homer nice again (for the most part)