The City of North Vancouver has named a trendy Vancouver restaurant and pub chain as the anchor tenant in the Shipyards' Coppersmith Shop at the foot of Lonsdale Avenue.
Tap Barrel, which already has locations in the Olympic Village and Coal Harbour, is now negotiating a lease with the city with an aim to start construction this summer. The pub hopes to open for customers in time for summer 2015.
The restaurant and pub will occupy the entire building as well as a large patio area facing Shipbuilders' Square - a key part of the redeveloped central waterfront the city is working on.
The details of the lease are still being negotiated so the city cannot release what Tap Barrel will be paying,
but it will be a substantial revenue generator for the city, said Larry Orr, the city's manager of lands and business services.
"It will be a long-term commercial lease and they're paying market rent for the space," Orr said.
The city hired Colliers International to market the 8,500-square-foot historic building, netting a number of potential tenants. From the short-list of three, the city ranked candidates based on quality of their proposals.
Some of the key elements of Tap Barrel's
pitch included their experience in running restaurants with patio space, their menu, which offers an accessible price point and selection, their history of being active in the community and their environmental record.
"They're a very environmentally sustainable operation in terms of the fact they serve all of their beer and all of their wine on tap. There are no bottles involved and they only serve locally sourced wine and beer from B.C. They
have a policy on locally sourced food as well," Orr said.
The Coppersmith Shop and neighbouring Pipe Shop, where the new North Vancouver Museum and Archives is planning to move, are both on a 50-year lease to the city from Pinnacle International. The developer paid for the renovations of the buildings, which were done to city specifications, as part of their rezoning for the site.
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