Allied Properties and Westbank Unveil Major AI Data Center Projects in Vancouver
February 11, 2026
In a significant move to address the soaring demand for artificial intelligence (AI) computing infrastructure, two major Canadian real estate firms have announced plans for substantial data center developments in Vancouver. The projects underscore the strategic shift of urban property developers towards high-density digital infrastructure, capitalizing on the critical need for power and space to support next-generation AI workloads. Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust revealed this week its plan to develop a purpose-built, 10-story AI data center at 150 West Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver. The municipally approved site, developed in partnership with real estate firm Westbank, marks a pivot from an initially planned commercial and entertainment complex. According to Allied's recent quarterly earnings report, local utility BC Hydro has committed to providing 39 megawatts (MW) of power for the facility, with a clear path to 50MW and the potential for scaling up to 100MW. The company also noted the site could be integrated with Creative Energy’s district heating network, potentially enhancing its sustainability profile. Concurrently, Westbank is pursuing a separate adaptive reuse project less than two miles away. The developer has filed plans to convert an existing three-story office building at 111 E 5th Avenue, known as M3, into a dedicated data center. The conversion would repurpose nearly the entire 133,125 square foot (12,365 sqm) structure, allocating 83,245 square feet (7,735 sqm) for data hall space and transforming the underground parking area into support facilities. A restaurant is planned for the ground floor. The Allied-led project represents a strategic re-entry into the data center market for the firm, which sold its portfolio of three carrier hotel facilities in Toronto to KDDI in 2023. For the Vancouver site, Allied has extended Westbank's loan to the end of December 2026 to facilitate the shift from office to data center use. Upon completion, the partners aim to sell a majority stake in the facility to a Canadian operator, partially repaying Allied's loan while retaining a minority interest. These developments highlight Vancouver's growing importance as a core data center hub in Canada, alongside Toronto and Montreal. The city is already home to operators like Cologix, eStruxture, and Equinix. The push for vertical, high-power-density facilities in urban cores reflects an industry-wide trend to locate compute capacity closer to end-users and leverage existing power and fiber connectivity, despite the challenges of securing ample power in dense metropolitan areas. Source: datacenterdynamics
