VANCOUVER — The dingy, plus-sized marshmallow of a complex that for decades squatted atop Pacific Centre at Granville and Robson streets is officially gone, replaced by a glistening new mixed-use building that became home to its first round of occupants earlier this month.

The fifth floor of the former Sears — née Eaton's — building is now the domain of visual effects and animation company Sony Pictures Imageworks, the first of a trio of companies slated to occupy four floors of AAA-class office space at 725 Granville over the next two years.

All that remains of the old building are its concrete structure and stairwells, said Tom Knoepfel, a senior vice-president at Cadillac Fairview, the owner and developer of the complex. That's a good thing.

"It was very monolithic before and now, with the abundance of glass and transparency and even the reflections off the neighbouring buildings, and the ability to see in and see through, it really transforms the block," Knoepfel said.

That point can hardly be overstated. The original complex Cadillac Fairview erected in the early 1970s seemed to suck the light — and life — out of a key city block in the downtown core. It was an architectural eyesore flanked by visually appealing nearby neighbours like the neo-classical Vancouver Art Gallery, the domed Pacific Centre atrium on West Georgia Street, and the vibrant, angular Chapters store at Robson and Howe streets.

Cadillac Fairview's airy new complex was designed by local architect James K. M. Cheng — known for Vancouver's Fairmont Pacific Rim and Shangri-La, among other developments.

"Many times architects will do renderings and create models of buildings and at times the finished product doesn't turn out as nice as what you've seen on the plans. In this case I think it's surpassed our expectations," said Knoepfel.

The project sprang to life about three years ago when building owner and developer Cadillac Fairview bought out Sears' lease. What recently emerged from behind the scaffolding is a glass-and-concrete structure of eight floors, split evenly between retail and office space.

U.S. retailer Nordstrom is slated to open on Sept. 18 a three-floor flagship shop with street-level entry as part of its push into the Canadian marketplace. Pacific Centre will extend into the basement of the building, which will have room for another 12 or 14 as-yet-unknown retailers.

Above the retail space are four 73,000-sq.-ft. office floors with 17-foot ceilings. With typical office floors ranging from 13,000 to 18,000 sq. ft, the massive floor plates are unrivalled in the city, said Knoepfel, and all but part of one floor is spoken for already.

Microsoft is planning a move to the sixth and seventh floors this year and law firm Miller Thomson is slated to occupy 48,000 square feet of the fourth floor in 2017. A local company and one other prospective tenant — Knoepfel won't say who — are in negotiations with Cadillac Fairview to fill the remainder of the space.

That floor, the fourth, is where office workers will access a pair of accessible atriums that deliver natural light through the upper half of the building.