QuadReal sells historic Post project in record-breaking deal

Key Takeaways:

• The Post sale is being characterized as the largest office transaction in Vancouver’s history, with reports pegging the deal value at about $1.1 billion and confirming continued global appetite for best-in-class, fully leased assets.
• The project transformed Vancouver’s 1958 Main Post Office — once on heritage “endangered” lists — into a 1.1-million-sq.-ft. Amazon-anchored office campus with roughly 185,000 sq. ft. of retail, preserving key modernist elements while adding two new office towers.
• QuadReal may be selling the asset, but it remains in place as property manager, reinforcing its role as a major Canadian player in complex heritage redevelopments and operations, backed by recent BOMA awards for customer service.

The Whole Story:

The Post redevelopment in Vancouver has changed hands in what industry watchers say is one of the largest office trades in the city’s history.

QuadReal Property Group announced it has sold the mixed-use complex at 349 West Georgia Street, while retaining the property management role for the 1.1-million-sq.-ft. office and retail asset. The company did not disclose the buyer or price in its release, but international business outlets have reported the purchaser as Pontegadea, the global real estate investment firm of Zara founder Amancio Ortega, in a deal valued at about $1.1 billion.

The Post’s office component is fully leased, with Amazon occupying the bulk of the two office towers and additional tenants including Sony Pictures Imageworks, while the retail podium features a flagship Loblaws CityMarket and a growing mix of food, fitness and service operators.

From postal hub to protected landmark

Completed in 1958 as Vancouver’s Main Post Office, the building was designed by local firm McCarter Nairne & Partners and, at the time, was the largest single structure in the city. It occupied an entire downtown block and housed what was then described as the world’s largest welded-steel building frame, with ramps for mail trucks, an underground conveyor link to Waterfront Station and a rooftop heliport that was never used.

As Canada Post modernized its operations and shifted sorting to a new plant near Vancouver International Airport, the Georgia Street building slid into uncertainty. Heritage advocates placed it on endangered lists, warning that the federally owned landmark could be demolished or drastically altered once Canada Post disposed of the site.

The building was sold in 2013 to B.C. Investment Management Corporation, which later consolidated its Canadian real estate activities into QuadReal. In 2018, Vancouver city council designated the property as protected heritage under a site-specific bylaw, securing the mid-century façade, public art and key character elements in exchange for additional density to support redevelopment.

A mega-scale heritage rebuild

QuadReal’s redevelopment, designed by MCMP Architects with PCL Construction as general contractor, turned the four-storey podium into a new retail and amenity base and added two glass office towers above. The Post now delivers roughly 1.05 million sq. ft. of office space and close to 180,000 sq. ft. of retail on a single city block, along with underground parking and loading.

The overhaul retained signature heritage components including the Georgia Street colonnade, granite and terra cotta cladding, and large aluminum federal crests, while carving new atriums and circulation routes through the structure. Construction began in 2018 following several design iterations, including an earlier scheme that contemplated residential towers instead of a pure office play. Amazon committed early to the site and began moving into the South Tower in 2023, with both towers now functioning as one of the company’s largest Canadian hubs.

QuadReal has described The Post as one of the most ambitious heritage redevelopments in Canada’s history, noting that the renewed complex began welcoming occupants in 2023 after a multi-year overhaul.

Record deal in a cautious office market

The sale lands against a backdrop of rising interest rates and an uneven post-pandemic office recovery. Vancouver’s downtown remains one of the tighter office markets in North America, but large, fully leased trades have been rare over the past two years. Recent market data shows office dollar volumes improving in early 2025 but still well below pre-COVID levels.

Market observers have characterized The Post deal as the largest office transaction on record in Vancouver and one of the larger single-asset office trades seen in Canada. Provincial assessment records show the complex carried a 2025 assessed value just under $1 billion, and industry commentary suggests the achieved price likely exceeded that figure, reflecting the strength of the tenant roster and long-term income profile.

For Pontegadea, the acquisition extends a strategy of targeting prime, long-lease urban assets. The Spanish family office has been steadily building a global portfolio of office, logistics, retail and hospitality properties, including other Amazon-leased sites and marquee Canadian real estate.

QuadReal stays on as operator

While ownership is changing, QuadReal will remain as property manager at The Post, a point the company emphasized in its sale announcement. The firm, a top-20 global real estate investor with tens of billions in assets under management, highlighted its “high-conviction” investment strategy and its track record in property operations, including recent BOMA honours such as the 2025 Pinnacle Customer Service Award.