Nordstrom location is hard to figure for Ikea. Furniture buyers need their car to bring stuff home and driving in downtown Van is a PITA.
Yeah, that's what I thought as well. Not really a location suited to a low-cost big box model.
That location's been something of a "widowmaker", even since the days Eaton's was there.
Department stores like Nordstrom/Bay/Holt all get undercut by outlets. Why buy from a limited selection of Hugo Boss at the Bay when the Hugo Boss outlet has more selection and prices? Online is even better.
Indeed, Nordstrom's apparently had an outlet location in Langley apparently. (Never been; I heard this in the news report.)
What about breaking it up into separate spaces so the rent isn’t so overwhelming ?
Not involved in property development or engineering, so this is a guess:
I do not see how that would make the rent any better (per spare foot) - I mean it would allow for smaller retailers, but "anchor" stores often get special deals from landlords that smaller stores do not.
There would also be structural considerations. I mean the whole Pacific Centre complex is quite an odd area, especially underground. Some work on the internal structure would have to be done, and that would cost a lot.
People have lots of ideas - some good, some aspirational which will never happen, and some that are just batshit crazy (but which will be heavily promoted anyway).
But when I look at the interaction between Big Landlords / developers, and Big Retail, I do not get the feeling that long-term value and good ideas will be at the forefront. Indeed, I think the big commercial landlords do not actually care if they put businesses under or not - big or small tenants, they just pick the meat off retailers bones regardless if it ends up with half the storefronts boarded up & derelict.
And all these sons of bitches are always angling for some sort of high-rise condo development so they can take the money & run. (Just you watch with this one. Someone will try to "revitalize" it into a 60 story condo tower.)
That's a digression, because Nordstrom's is just another big, but the point is, do not assume "they" (whoever they are) are making rational decisions. Money talks, but half the time it is babbling some outright crazy shit.