Vancouver city council has approved rezoning for a downtown block, making way for the city’s three largest towers to be built including Western Canada’s tallest skyscraper.

The $2.8 billion mega tower project, led by local developer Holborn and Henriquez Partners Architects, will redevelop the blocks bounded by West Georgia, Seymour, Dunsmuir and Richards Streets, with a 68-storey building that will be Vancouver’s largest hotel and two residential towers, one of 68 storeys, the other with 79 storeys.

The developer also plans to build a 25-storey building at 388 Abbott St. with 237 units of social housing.

The project will feature 920-room hotel and 70,000 square foot conference centre that will be the tallest building in Western Canada, at 315 metres, plus two residential towers with 1,546 market homes. The proposal also includes retail, a new public plaza and rooftop observation deck.

The design by Henriquez Partners Architects is described as telling a “story unique to British Columbia, inspired by rare and ancient glass sea sponge reefs: living structures found off the BC coast that demonstrate strength and adaptability. Informed by the sea sponge’s structural ingenuity and ecological purpose, the towers offer a uniquely Vancouver expression of sustainability, beauty, and vertical urbanism.”

The hotel tower, if built to the approved height, would become the first “supertall” building (300 metres or taller) west of Toronto. The two residential towers would rank among the tallest in Metro Vancouver.