Part of the former Emily Carr campus on Granville Island has been vacant since the university of art and design moved to the False Creek flats in 2017.

But it could be on the cusp of being rejuvenated.

“What we want to see with the building is what we’re calling the Arts and Innovation Hub,” said Granville Island’s general manager Tom Lancaster.

“The vision that we have for it (includes) affordable artist spaces, production facilities, collaboration space, probably some food, some live music, all that kind of stuff.”

Granville Island is owned by the federal government and run by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., which put out a request for expressions of interest for 1399 Johnston St., a 125,000-sq.-ft. space. It got seven proposals, which have been whittled to a shortlist of two.

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