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Vancouver City Council approves ‘strategic exchange of property’ for future convention center expansionSubscriber Exclusive

Fate of old Webber Building to be determined by next year

By Sarah Wolf, Columbian staff writer

Published: September 10, 2024, 2:10pm

3 Photos

The Vancouver City Council on Monday voted to approve a land swap for a later expansion of the Vancouver Convention Center. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian) Photo Gallery

The Hilton Vancouver Washington and adjoining Vancouver Convention Center ushered in a resurgence for the city’s downtown area nearly 20 years ago.

The city’s inner core now boasts apartment buildings, popular retailers and a relatively low office vacancy rate. Two more hotels rose in the nearby Waterfront Vancouver development.

Vancouver officials hope to build on that success by expanding the city’s convention center property. On Monday, the Vancouver City Council unanimously approved exchanging two lots directly south of the Hilton, including the old Webber Building to the Vancouver Public Facilities District. The city council created the district to own the convention center land and help generate revenue for it.

An addition to the convention center, however, isn’t imminent.

“This is more of a strategic exchange of property to make it easier to complete a potential future project,” city spokeswoman Laura Shepard said.

The city doesn’t currently have any plans or drawings for a possible expansion, she said.

Vancouver’s Downtown Redevelopment Authority started building the Hilton Vancouver Washington in late 2003, and it opened to the public in 2005. Hilton Hotels Corp. has managed it ever since, with the authority’s oversight.

The city created both the authority and the public facilities district, but they are independent government entities.

Natasha Ramras, executive director of the authority and the public facilities district, said it’s still premature to talk about what will happen with the properties, even though they were purchased with the intent to expand the convention center.

“The city has grown significantly during this 20-year time period. The profile of the city has changed,” Ramras said. “We can no longer accommodate larger professional conference groups.”

At this point, the convention center can fit conferences of up to about 700 people. But larger groups in Washington and beyond have expressed interest in meeting in Vancouver.

“Having a larger facility would allow the city to showcase our downtown area, bring people in, allow them to spend money in the downtown area and just showcase all the exciting things that the city has done,” Ramras said.

The city bought the Webber Building in 2004 for $1.55 million, according to county records. The 400 Columbia St., property dates to 1909. It was home to a blacksmith and then a machine company before eventually becoming office space. A sign for Webber Machine Works still adorns the building’s side.

The building isn’t formally a historic site, although some in the community consider it to be.

Original plans for a convention center, drawn up in the 1990s, would have required demolishing the Webber Building. The city ultimately worked around it.

Ramras said she expects to have an answer to the fate of the Webber Building next year, as well as an idea of what an expansion to the convention center will look like.

The current convention center also needs to be remodeled because of its age.

The convention center and the old Webber Building are both part of the city’s Waterfront Gateway area. Much of the undeveloped property is currently used for parking. But the city plans to fill the space with a central plaza, as well as four buildings, comprising 435 housing units, 35,000 square feet of retail space and a parking garage.

That project is expected to kick off in 2025.

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