This month Vancouver, British Columbia will see its last waterfront casino, the Edgewater, close, while the 0 million Parq Vancouver casino hotel resort will open across the street abutting the BC Place Stadium, taking over the Edgewater’s existing license.
The Edgewater, which opened in 2005 in the Plaza of Nations’ Enterprise Hall, was never intended to be there as long as it was. It was opened by Paragon Gaming, which intended to build a dedicated building downtown. Now its staff will move to that complex.
The Parq Vancouver, which will open September 29, is 72,000 square feet, compared to 36,000 SF for the Edgewater, but will have the same number of slot machines, 600, and table games, 75. It is the largest private development in the history of British Columbia.
It has the potential to expand its gaming offerings, since the license allows up to 1,500 slots and 150 tables. It will have a poker room and 11 private VIP salons on the second and third floors.
Besides a casino, the Parq Vancouver offers two luxury hotels, including the JW Marriott and the Douglas, an Autograph Collection hotel, with a total of 517 rooms, eight restaurants, 62,000 SF of meeting space and a 30,000 SF outdoor rooftop treed park on the sixth floor, with 200 pines.
The Douglas will feature a lobby with a full-sized replica of a Douglas fir encased in glass.
The meeting space will make the Parq one of the city’s largest convention centers. The Parq Grand Ballroom will be the largest hotel ballroom in the city.
The restaurants will include the 1886, named after the year Vancouver’s Chinatown emerged, and offering a variety of Chinese cuisines, from Canton to Shanghai; Mrkt East, with a Singapore night market feel and offering an Asian menu; Honey Salt, serving regional farm to table cuisines featuring local produce; BC Kitchen, offering classic comfort foods; the Victor, with Pacific Northwest seafood and steaks; Centre Bar, offering signature cocktails and high end spirits; D/6 Bar Lounge, with a fireplace, bookcases and pool table and the Lotus Whiskey and Tea Lounge, serving high quality teas as well as reserve whiskeys, scotch and bourbon.
The Plaza of Nations was built for the Expo ’86 World’s Four. Some of the buildings of the plaza have since that time been demolished. Plans are to demolish the remainder to be replaced by a mixed-use redevelopment project.
