Tallest LEED Platinum office tower opens in Vancouver

VANCOUVER – A new tower has opened in downtown Vancouver and it is turning heads across the country.

The $240-million Exchange office tower is the first major project in North America that a real estate fund of Credit Suisse Asset Management built from the ground up, explains a release.

The 31-storey building is Vancouver’s tallest LEED Platinum office tower and Canada’s first LEED Platinum heritage conversion with the restoration of the Old Stock Exchange building, which opened in 1929.

The building ranks as Canada’s eighth largest LEED Platinum office project. According to Credit Suisse, the Exchange will have half the energy load of a traditional office building, with a 35 per cent reduction in energy costs and an 85 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

“A few years ago, we expressed our confidence in Vancouver’s economy and its future,” said Christoph Schumacher, head of global real estate at Credit Suisse Asset Management in a press release. “While we would typically invest in a fully-developed leased property, we were confident that we could manage this development from start to finish, which speaks to our confidence in Vancouver and its future.”

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson called the project a world-class sustainable building the preserves the past.

“Vancouver’s economy is booming and it’s an honour to have a global powerhouse like Credit Suisse choose our city for its first North American project and be a part of our growth,” said Robertson.

The tower was designed by Swiss architect Harry Gugger in partnership with Vancouver-based architectural firm Iredale. Their work won the Exchange the 2017 American Architecture Prize for Heritage Architecture.

“When we approached Credit Suisse about building an office tower in Vancouver, critical to their decision was that the project achieve the highest environmental standards and architectural excellence,” said Franz Gehriger, CEO of SwissReal Investments.

The hotel in the tower will be managed by Executive hotels while a Vancouver accounting firm, Smythe LLP, and a fintech company, HyperWallet Systems, will occupy a total of 50,500 square feet. Swiss chocolatier Lindt has a retail store on the ground level and Sovereign General Insurance recently signed a lease.