Bay Centre

The Bay Centre, formerly the Victoria Eaton Centre, is a shopping mall in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is bounded by Douglas, Government, Fort, and View streets, in the city's historic centre.[2] It has 39,115 square metres (421,030 sq ft) of retail space.[3]

Bay Centre
Address1150 Douglas Street
Victoria, British Columbia
V8W 3M9
Opening date1989
DeveloperCadillac Fairview and Eaton's
ManagementWestcliff
OwnerLaSalle Investment Management
No. of stores and services93[1]
No. of anchor tenants1
Total retail floor area39,115 m2 (421,030 sq ft)
No. of floors4 (5 in Hudson's Bay department store)
WebsiteBay Centre
Bay Centre atrium
Exterior of the Bay Centre

Opening in 1989, the mall was the first large shopping mall in Downtown Victoria. It occupies two city blocks of the Old Town area, including the site of the original downtown Eaton's store[4] (previously Spencer's) at 1150 Douglas Street.[5] Eaton's was demolished in 1987–88 to make way for the Eaton Centre project. The development of the shopping centre was initially the subject of controversy,[4][6] as construction involved demolishing several historic buildings (or reducing them to facades in front of new construction)[6] and closing one block of Broad Street.[2]

The centre was initially a partnership between Eaton's and Cadillac Fairview.[7] When Eaton's went bankrupt in 1999, the Eaton's store in this mall was occupied first by Sears Canada, and then by The Bay (now Hudson's Bay), for which the mall was renamed.[8][9] In 2010, Cadillac Fairview sold the complex to LaSalle Investment Management for an undisclosed price in the range of $90 million to $110 million, which is among the largest real estate transactions in the city's history.[6]

Anchors and majors

See also

References
  1. Bay Centre Stores page Archived June 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Ward, Robin (November 17, 1990). "A world of kitsch: Victoria is losing some of its architectural charm, with the Eaton Centre the latest example of inappropriate design", The Vancouver Sun, p. D1.
  3. "Victoria – Canadian Urban Institute", Canadian Urban Institute. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
  4. (March 1, 1989). "Controversial shopping mall opens in Victoria", The Vancouver Sun, p. B1.
  5. (May 20, 2001). "Us vs. Them: Architects and amateurs have their say on Victoria buildings", Times Colonist, p. D6.
  6. Kloster, Darron (May 14, 2010). "Bay Centre sold to U.S. company: City landmark estimated to have fetched at least $90 million", Times Colonist, p. A1.
  7. Gidney, Norman (February 28, 1997). "Eaton's downtown Victoria store expected to survive financial crisis", Times Colonist.
  8. Our History: Victoria at HBC Heritage
  9. Gidney, Norman (May 3, 2003). "Bay celebrates history in return to downtown", Times Colonist, p. E1.
  10. Wilson, Carla (January 31, 2008). "Passport office secures mall space: Passport Canada will be bringing citizens out of the cold – and into the mall Archived October 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine", Times Colonist. Retrieved June 18, 2014.

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