Downtown Vancouver’s Hudson Bay store reportedly sold for $675 million

Citing an anonymous source, Reuters is reporting that a deal is in the works to sell the iconic Hudson Bay Co. store at Georgia and Granville streets for $675 million to an unnamed Asian buyer. This is consistent with HBC boss Richard Baker’s efforts over the past few years to unlock the value of the retail group’s prime real estate. Big numbers in Vancouver real estate may have lost their ability to surprise, but here’s a point of comparison: 30 years ago Li Ka-Shing bought about half the False Creek waterfront for less than half that sum, $320 million — a number whittled down to around $145 million when you consider the provincial government’s expenditure to remediate soil contamination.