After over a year of speculation, we can now confirm what's moving into the prime English Bay location that was for several years the Boathouse restaurant.

After over a year of speculation, we can now confirm what's moving into the prime English Bay location that was for several years the Boathouse restaurant.

Alberta-based beer hall restaurant CRAFT Beer Market has confirmed with Vancouver Is Awesome they are the new tenants at 1795 Beach Avenue.

The Boathouse closed up in October 2018, and occupied that West End address with the view of the water, since the late 1980s. The chain opted to leave behind the property in 2018 when their lease expired.

The property has sat dormant, and has received some vandalism in the ensuing months, however new documents show that progress is being made on the site. A building permit filed with the City of Vancouver this fall indicates CRAFT Beer Market plans to make several changes to the property, including adding an elevator, implementing a new interior layout, increasing the patio seating capacity, and more inside and out.

CRAFT Beer Market is working with Grout McTavish architects and the Panther Group on the project.

Currently CRAFT operates a Vancouver location in Olympic Village and in Kelowna, B.C., as well as locations in Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Toronto.

While CRAFT did confirm they are on board in the West End, they declined to provide further details at this time, noting that an official press release would be issued in the near future. Stay tuned for details.

This story has been updated to correctly identify CRAFT's home base as Alberta.