Metropolis at Metrotown, Shopping complex in Burnaby, Canada.
Metropolis at Metrotown is a three-storey shopping mall in Burnaby, British Columbia, with over 450 shops and services. Its facade on Central Boulevard has blue-grey panels, a white sign with a stylized X, and metallic letters reading "METROPOLIS at metrotown". The complex includes three office buildings along Central Boulevard.
The complex opened in 1986 on land that previously housed a Ford Motor Company factory. It has since developed from a modest beginning into one of the largest shopping destinations in British Columbia.
The name Metrotown comes from the term "metrotown", coined by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council in 1962 and adapted by urban researcher R. W. Archer in a 1969 article; Burnaby adopted it in the 1970s, first as a common noun and later as the name of the area around Kingsway and Sussex Avenue. The mall's Central Boulevard entrance sits above a bus loop that serves routes from Vancouver, Richmond and New Westminster.
The mall sits beside Metrotown station on the Expo Line of the SkyTrain network, and a bus loop and exchange lies immediately below the Central Boulevard entrance and covered walkway, serving routes from Burnaby, Vancouver, Richmond and New Westminster. The pedestrian overpass that once linked Station Square to the SkyTrain station was closed in November 2016 and later demolished, so pedestrians now reach the station and the mall by street level.
The name "Metrotown" was coined in 1962 by the Baltimore Regional Planning Council, and urban researcher R. W. Archer adapted it in a 1969 article for a planned metropolitan development unit. Burnaby adopted the term in the 1970s, first as a common noun and later as the proper name of the area around Kingsway and Sussex Avenue.
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