Bosa Properties has bought two properties along Kingsway in the Royal Oak neighbourhood in Burnaby, including one that is operating as the Best Western Plus Burnaby Hotel.

The deal, brokered by NAI Commercial, includes a 2.7-acre site with the hotel at 5411 Kingsway, as well as the adjacent 0.17-acre parcel at 5367 Kingsway.

Marc Ricou, executive vice-president, commercial at Bosa Properties told RENX the firm invested $6 million to renovate the 137-room hotel, including upgrades to most washrooms, as well as new flooring, furniture, and soft goods. He said Bosa could eventually redevelop the site into a high-density mixed use project, but it sees plenty of opportunity short-term for the hotel. 

Ricou said Vancouver-based Bosa is working to reposition what used to be meeting space on the second floor into a new breakfast and lounge area.

“The renovation will enable us to provide a well-appointed, mid-priced room offering for the busy summer season and the FIFA World Cup next year."

The current hotel would operate at an accessible price point, with surface parking for visitors and families arriving by car, Ricou said, noting he expects the hotel to host plenty of sports teams. “The tournament market is a fairly important element in Burnaby, both in the winter and in the summer."

The buyers did not disclose the purchase price for the properties, but according to BC Assessment, 5411 Kingsway was valued most recently at $31.159 million and 5367 Kingsway was valued at $2.825 million. 

This purchase adds to Bosa Properties’ Burnaby portfolio, which includes several ongoing projects, including Solhouse 6035, a 50-storey tower with 411 condos and 68 rental units in the Metrotown area that's now selling. The company also owns Element by Westin, a high-rise hotel located at Kingsway and Willingdon Ave. 

City needs 10,000 new hotel rooms 

Vancouver needs 10,000 additional hotel rooms to be built by 2050 to keep pace with demand, according to a recent report by Destination Vancouver and the BC Hotel Association. 

While this deal with Bosa is in neighbouring Burnaby and doesn’t immediately add rooms to the market, over the longer term a redevelopment guided by Burnaby’s new Royal Oak Community Plan could include additional hotel space that would help the region. 

A redevelopment of the site would be a possibility, Ricou said, noting a new hotel could be a "complementary" piece to a larger master-plan redevelopment over time.

"We do have a couple of (other) hotels in our pipeline right now, so we have a real-time understanding of what the cost is of building a hotel.”

The Royal Oak section of Kingsway remains relatively low density, with a mix of car dealerships, mechanics, retail buildings and restaurants with plenty of surface parking fronting Kingsway. It’s much less developed than the towering, neighbouring Metrotown area. 

Ricou says there is opportunity for higher density projects. "The views from the site are really attractive," he said.

It could eventually extend the power of the Metrotown node eastward with "a mixture of condominium and rental housing, along with really strong mixed-use amenities, retail, grocery (and) service type-amenities in the future."

Market uncertainty slows decisions

"There's a lot of uncertainty right now . . . slowing down decision-making with the tenants, probably in all asset classes in the near term," Ricou said. "Having said that, there's still transactions going on, day-to-day, (and) leases (happening) in all of those asset classes.”

He said Bosa Properties is also building roughly 1,500 purpose-built rental units in the region and also looking for fresh industrial development opportunities.

“Construction costs remain elevated and are definitely challenged to making projects viable."

Longer term, Vancouver’s reputation as a destination for people to invest, visit, work and live will remain, he added. 

The deal for the two Kingsway sites was handled by Steven Chen, a broker with NAI Commercial. Chen says he has been focusing on the hotel market amid challenges in other asset classes. 

He said the action around this purchase was "actually quite competitive". 

"We had two very strong candidates," Chen said in an interview. 

Vancouver's strong hotel market

The deal was initially spurred by the redevelopment potential specified in the new Area Plan, Chen said, but later, Bosa started to see the potential to continue to operate the hotel.

"It's just a testament to how strong the hotel market is," Chen said, noting the regional market has a shortage of rooms and it’s difficult to get your hands on hotels, either through acquisition or development.

"Your construction cost is high, your carrying costs, your interest costs, everything's high. So it's still hard for new inventory to enter the market in a short period of time,” Chen said. 

He pointed to the FIFA World Cup, which will take place here in summer 2026, as well as the start of the region's cruise ship season, which brings over a million people to the city each season, among the different fuels for hotel demand in the region. 

Stricter rules on short-term home rentals also pushed more demand to the hotel market. 

As for redevelopment opportunities at Bosa’s new sites on Kingsway, the Royal Oak Plan designates the area as the Village Centre, which could allow for towers up to 20 storeys for this site. Chen said a master plan featuring high-rise rental and condo buildings, a hotel, and other uses could work well in the future. 

More broadly, Chen said the development market remains cautious.

"This (cautiousness) is going to be long term," he said. "Only major players would step forward in a climate like this."