Jack Keating
Province
Beachfront dining will become a reality at English Bay by the summer of 2011.
That was assured when the Vancouver Parks Board voted 6-1 Monday night to approve a staff report recommending Cactus Restaurants Ltd. be allowed to build a restaurant and concession stand beachside near the corner of Denman and Davie streets.
The company will pay the parks board $240,000 per year in rent, plus an additional four per cent of all revenue over $4 million annually.
The restaurant will be called the Cactus Club Cafe and replace the present concession stand. Under the terms of the agreement, the building would also have a takeout concession stand with 48 outdoor seats.
The restaurant would offer “casual fine dining,” with 79 indoor seats and 70 outdoor seats.
“I think it’s going to be a great fit for the West End community,” said parks board chairman Aaron Jasper.
“Locals and visitors get to have a nice dining experience and all the money — the $1.2 million over five years guaranteed — is money put back into all the programs and services that people have come to expect from the Vancouver Parks Board.”
Construction would begin in September and the new restaurant would be open in June of 2011.
“The win-win, of course, is that we’ve designed the restaurant. The company builds it. We own it– the people of Vancouver own it,” Jasper said.
The sole Green Party park commissioner voted against the proposal.
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