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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The territorial government wants to claim a little piece of downtown Vancouver during next year's Winter Olympics, and perhaps for years to come.

The GNWT is eyeing a high-end office building situated among international trading firms and art galleries in Vancouver's waterfront district, where it can establish a tourism centre to draw on the enormous crush of visitors flooding the city during the games.

The territorial government is considering this property in downtown Vancouver to install a tourism centre to share with the two other territories during next year's Winter Olympics, and for at least a year or two afterwards. - Adam K. Johnson/NNSL photo

Richard Zieba, director of tourism and parks with the GNWT, said the space and costs for "Northern House" will be shared among the three Northern territories. The territorial government's share of the costs will be paid out of a $2.5 million fund the GNWT set aside to attend the Olympics.

Northern House will be a place where visitors can purchase Northern arts and crafts, take in performances, and enquire about places to visit in the North.

"The whole intent is to promote the Northwest Territories as a place to visit, to live and to invest," said Zieba. "If this works out, we will continue wanting to have our presence in Vancouver as a visitor's centre for a couple years after (the Olympics)."

While negotiations haven't been concluded yet, the number one candidate for Northern House is an eight-storey building at 602 West Hastings Street, a short walk from Vancouver's famous Gastown. The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment recently issued notice to architectural, exhibition and interior design firms, calling on them to attend a meeting April 14 in Yellowknife to hear the government's needs and desires for the space it hopes to lease inside the building.

Zieba said the territories are looking for a space in the range of 10,000 to 15,000 square-feet for a period of up to five years after the Olympics. The West Hastings property has a total of 62,698 sq. ft. Rental prices advertised for the building range from $8 to $30 a square-foot per year.

Zieba said leasing space in a building will be more cost-effective than renting a pavilion at the Olympics, plus the three territories will be able to maintain a presence for as long as they want in tourist-rich Vancouver.

"Vancouver is offering live sites where you get a patch of pavement for anywhere between $90,000 and $300,000, and then you have to build on top of that," said Zieba. "That's for being there three weeks. We're looking at that kind of value for a yearly lease."

Robert Tham, a leasing agent with Corbel Commercial Real Estate Services, which leases space in the West Hastings building on behalf of owner Reliance Holdings, said the property is home to a number of tenants, including mining firms, consultants and the Canadian Export Centre. There's even a Starbucks.

"So when (the territories) moves in they just have to go around the corner to get a coffee," said Tham.

Zieba said during the Olympics there will be up to nine people working in retail at Northern House, plus some government staff. After the Olympics, Northern House will have four to six people working there, three of whom will probably be GNWT hires.

"The first consideration would be to folks in the Northwest Territories," said Zieba, of people who will be hired by the GNWT to work there.

Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro, who recently criticized the $2.5 million games budget as excessive, said she's "on the fence" when it comes to supporting the government's bid to establishing a tourism centre in Vancouver over several years.

"(Vancouver) is kind of the Pacific gateway into Canada," said Bisaro. "It probably will be of some value but whether or not it's going to be worth it for us to keep it up for five years, I don't have an opinion at this point."