Photo The developers at the Vancouver Innovation Center have big dreams for the parcel of land that was once home to Hewlett-Packard’s Vancouver campus. What was the sprawling industrial campus could soon be home to retail shops, multifamily housing and public spaces mixed in with its existing industrial buildings. New York-based New BluePrint Partners buys manufacturing sites all over the country, but one of the company’s principals, Marc Esrig, has long had an eye on Vancouver. The Vancouver Innovation Center site proved appealing to his company. Together with development partner Rabina, the team purchased the property in 2020. “It was a combination of the existing buildings and also the possibility of developing the rest of the site as something extraordinary,” Esrig told The Columbian.

And that’s just what developers hope the plans for Vancouver Innovation Center are — extraordinary. New BluePrint and New York-based Rabina aspire to transform the rare urban industrial parcel into a destination with residential homes, retail businesses, parks and trails in addition to its manufacturing space. The development team plans to ask the city to modify its already-approved master plan to incorporate more high-density residential homes and buildings. “The key principles remain the same,” said Jennifer Rabina, senior vice president at Rabina. Those principles are to “reimagine this 179-acre campus as a sustainable 20 minute mixed-use neighborhood,” she said. The so-called 20-minute community intends to allow members of the surrounding neighborhoods the ability to walk to the campus’s amenities like its shopping and open spaces within just 20 minutes. For residents within the campus itself, Rabina said the same things could be achieved in more like five minutes.

The developers hope to create a neighborhood and community with a distinct and authentic identity, Rabina said. “Creating community is one of the key principles for us and then designing this entire campus in a sustainable, forward-thinking way,” she told The Columbian. Since purchasing the property, Rabina and New BluePrint have worked on improving the existing buildings. They’ve installed a new building management system and upgraded the controls for heating and air conditioning. They also changed the lights to be LEDs and upgraded common areas, including revamping the commons building to upgrade its fitness center and create a new café and collaborative space. “It’s basically trying to create community within our campus — for the employees that work there,” said Esrig. Because the team has already gotten city approval for its original master plan, it is able to move forward with the permitting process for a 200,000 square foot light industrial flex building. They’re also beginning work on designing the campus’ first residential building, which will include up to 300 units.

The developers have drawn up new designs for the property, incorporating a circular road around the existing industrial buildings, building new larger industrial buildings at the north end of the campus and residential and retail at the south end. The industrial buildings would all be accessed from the north end of the circular road. With its new design, the team aims to simplify the road network, better isolate the industrial traffic, spread out the retail spaces, add a neighborhood park, have a perimeter trail, incorporate pedestrian paths and bike lanes and make a town plaza. “It’s hard to find under one ownership this much land that you can design in a way that really celebrates what we mean about building an authentic community where people really can live, work and play,” Rabina said. “It’s really a little bit of a blank slate,” added Esrig. And that’s why the team has changed their vision for the property’s master plan. “We felt that there were places where we can improve upon what the original campus design could be,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to be able to dream about this and hopefully create this over the next five to ten years. Hopefully sooner.”