Creation of the downtown campus was a 10-year project. The university had pioneered university mid-career professional education in Vancouver in the early 1980s with the launch of a store-front centre. It was rapidly outgrown and larger premises were leased. Dr. Warren Gill, SFU's vice-president, university relations and an urban geographer who has played a key role in the development of SFU's downtown presence, says "It was clear there was need for a downtown university centre, but Simon Fraser knew it had to establish the facility through private sector support." This was achieved and the re-built and revitalized 1927 Spencer building officially opened as SFU's Vancouver campus on May 5, 1989.
Today, SFU is building a new teaching and performance facility for its School for the Contemporary Arts at the heritage Woodward's site on Hastings Street. With its completion, Simon Fraser will have committed approximately $150 million to the establishment and improvement of university facilities in downtown Vancouver. This has been made possible through the generosity of individuals, organizations, corporations and all levels of government.
The Vancouver campus, now over 450,000 square feet (including Woodward's), has expanded several times to add instructional and office space. The university bookstore opened a downtown branch in 1995.
The Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, created within a heritage bank building at 580 West Hastings, opened in September 2001. It is named for a long-time friend of SFU. The building was a gift to the university from Peter Eng, whose company developed the adjacent hotel, residential and retail complex.
A 1916 heritage building at the corner of Granville and Pender, in the heart of the city's financial district, is the home of SFU's business faculty's graduate programs. Known as the Segal Graduate School of Business, it honors the university's former chancellor Joseph Segal.
The campus currently serves over 70,000 people annually. Approximately 10,000 are students enrolled in credit and non-credit courses. In addition to leading edge research programs, a wide, and varying, range of undergraduate courses are offered each semester. Professional graduate degrees are available in business, gerontology, international studies, liberal studies, public policy, publishing and urban studies. A unique program in liberal and business studies offers the opportunity for degree completion for those already in the work force. Thousands of other individuals, groups and companies attend SFU conferences, lectures, performances and exhibitions or are involved in courses, seminars and meetings organized externally, but held at Simon Fraser Vancouver.