The police are out and Earls is in.
The trendy chain restaurant is set to open in late 2017 as the flagship eatery of Grosvenor’s 1.9-acre development on the police station site at Ambleside.
Dubbed “the future of Earls,” the new restaurant will likely look and taste a bit different from the chain’s other outlets, according to spokeswoman Cate Simpson.
The menu will be, “at minimum 30 per cent different,” she said.
Despite the upscale neighbourhood, customers can expect slightly lower prices on what may be a more seafood-rich menu, according to Simpson.
The company shifted strategy recently after successfully tailoring free-standing restaurants to taste buds in Chicago, Boston and Miami.
“We went into those markets as a restaurant no one had ever heard of,” Simpson said, explaining that they were able to customize restaurants to their surroundings.
Earls should boost business in the neighbourhood, according to Michael Ward, general manager of Grosvenor’s Vancouver office.
In 2013, representatives from Grosvenor predicted the project would generate a 10 to 16 per cent bump in trade for Ambleside retailers.
“I think all of those local merchants there are pretty keen to see this addition to the Ambleside neighbourhood,” Ward said.
Lack of new investment in a neighbourhood can stultify business, Ward explained. However, a “renewed sense of excitement … brings people back to that part of the community as opposed to going off elsewhere and spending their money.”
In supporting the project in 2013, Coun. Bill Soprovich described it as an economic imperative.
“If we do not move ahead with something viable in this community, Park Royal will suck us dry forever,” he said.
While other restaurants were considered, Grosvenor only negotiated with Earls, based in part on the restaurant’s connection to the district. North Shore residents the Fuller family own and operate Earls, among other restaurants.
Announcements on other shops under consideration for the complex – including a florist, dry cleaner, grocer, wine bar, coffee shop and a fitness centre – could be made as early as this summer, according to Ward.
While Marine Drive is getting set to welcome Earls, it’s about to bid goodbye to the police department, which is scheduled to move into their new, $36-million home adjoining municipal hall by the middle of fall 2017.
After several delays and one nixed design, the police service and municipal hall project is ahead of schedule, according to West Vancouver district spokesman Jeff McDonald.
“There’s impacts to residents in the area, which we’re always trying to minimize, but construction does mean some impacts and inconvenience for things like parking and noise,” he said.
Impacts have included moving a few trees and shrubs and closing Esquimalt Avenue between 16th and 17th streets for the duration of the project.
Originally pitched as a one-stop public safety building, the fire department was excluded after initial designs failed to win council’s approval.
“That’s something we’re going to have to get taken care of in the next round of infrastructure,” McDonald said of a new home for the fire department.
