South Korean multinational conglomerate giant Samsung is opening a new office near downtown Vancouver.

The company will be opening a 20,000-sq-ft office at South Flatz, a new 160,000 sq. ft., seven-storey building being constructed at 565 Great Northern Way – right next to the Emily Carr University of Art & Design (ECUAD) campus in the False Creek Flats.

At this time, it is not known when the office will open and how many people it could employ. Samsung already has a corporate presence in the region with its research and development office in South Burnaby.

Other major tenants of the building include Netherlands-based co-working space company Spaces (39,000 sq. ft.), Vancouver-based gaming studio Blackbird Interactive (29,000 sq. ft.), and the global headquarters of Vancouver-based Finning International (29,000 sq. ft.).

Finning International, the world’s largest distributor of Caterpillar heavy machinery, is currently located at 666 Burrard Street in downtown. The relocation of the office to the False Creek Flats marks Finning International’s return to its historical roots, as the company was located at the site from 1964 until 2001, when it donated 18 acres of industrial land to UBC, SFU, BCIT, and ECUAD for the creation of Great Northern Way Campus – a creative tech and digital media hub.

“Our goal was to attract a vibrant mix of tech-savvy companies into our flagship building,” said Tim Grant, Vice-President of PCI Developments, the local developer behind the project. “With these four anchor tenants, we have brought together a unique mix of international and local, established and entrepreneurial companies to build on the dynamic culture of the area.”

This building will be built to a LEED Gold standard and includes a large rooftop amenity deck with a fitness centre, 2,000-sq-ft retail pavilion with food and services, and a 20,000-sq-ft public plaza.

The building is set to reach completion later this spring, and it is the first building planned by this single developer, which intends to build a total of nearly two million sq. ft. of office developments in the False Creek Flats.

The City of Vancouver’s approved False Creek Flats plan envisions turning the entire Flats area into a creative and tech hub with light industrial usages and relatively minimal residential densities.

These developments will be largely served by a future SkyTrain station of the Millennium Line extension to Arbutus, with the station located at the corner of Thornton Street and Great Northern Way – right next to ECUAD and PCI’s first new building.

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