Lululemon Athletica Inc. is dramatically expanding its real estate footprint in its hometown.
The Canadian athleisure giant has leased close to 120,000 sq. ft of office space -- nine out of 10 floors in the tower -- within the new, buzzed-about Burrard Place building in downtown Vancouver.
This makes it one of the largest office lease deals in downtown Vancouver since the onset of the pandemic. The last time Vancouver saw an office deal so large was when Amazon pre-leased 1.1M sq. ft at The Post building in 2018.
“In our 60-year history, this is our first office development from the ground up, so to sign a global homegrown brand like Lululemon is a real win,” said Jon Stovell, president and CEO of Reliance Properties, who owns the shiny new building, in Friday morning’s announcement. Reliance first broke ground on the building in 2018.
The dramatic deal comes at a telling time when much of the world is emerging from the pandemic and experimenting with new ways to work, as the in-person, remote office, and hybrid model debate continues.
“This transaction signals that large firms are committed to office space, which changes the pervasive pandemic narrative that cast into doubt the need for office space,” said Blair Quinn, vice chairman of CBRE, the company that brokered the transaction, in a release.
This isn’t the only real estate-related Lululemon news as of late; the company made headlines in April when it announced it would open up a sprawling, three-storey flagship store at the corner of Yonge and Bloor.
In other brand-related news, Lululemon is also making headlines this week after releasing its first workout hijabs.
