March 19, 2008

JEAN SORENSEN

The 15-acre, city-centre site of Vancouver’s first social housing complex is slated for redevelopment. The project will mix market and new social housing together.

Vancouver’s Little Mountain housing complex slated for redevelopment

Jean Sorensen

correspondent

VANCOUVER

Colliers International is expected to announce in early April that it has closed a deal with Holborn Development to buy and develop the 15.25-acre, provincially-owned Little Mountain housing site in Vancouver’s central city area.

“We are down to one possible purchaser,” said Howie Charters, vice-president and managing director of Colliers, which is marketing the site for BC Housing.

Charters said he is bound by confidentiality not to disclose the name of the development company.

We are hopeful to make an announcement within the next three to four weeks. An agreement is fairly immanent, he said.

However, the Journal has learned that it is Holborn that put forward the successful proposal for the site development in November 2007.

`It was chosen from a roster of qualified buyers submitting plans for the area’s development.

Sheryl Lim, development manager for Holborn, confirmed that the company was in exclusive negotiations with Collier, but would not divulge details of what the negotiations involved or details of the Holborn proposal being put forward.

The Little Mountain multi-phase development, which is to feature mixed market housing with social housing, is several months past the posted deadline for selecting a buyer.

A buyer for the city’s oldest social housing site, which shoulders onto Queen Elizabeth Park, Nat Bailey Stadium and Hillcrest Park (where Olympic facilities are being built), was to have been selected by January 2008.

It is taking longer than we expected, acknowledged BC Housing media spokesman Sam Rainboth, however, he would not elaborate as to why the deal was taking so long.

The vision for Little Mountain’s development includes a mix of subsidized and market housing, along with community facilities and other neighbourhood amenities.

The site is east of Queen Elizabeth Park and bounded by Ontario, Main streets and 33^rd and 37^th avenues.

The Little Mountain housing site currently consists of 37 buildings hosting 224 social housing units.

The structures were originally built in 1954 by the provincial government to provide accommodation to war veterans.

The units are all obsolete said Charters.

He added that there has been an early agreement in the development stage between the City of Vancouver and BC Housing to retain the replacement units on site when the area is developed.

While not disclosing details of the ongoing negotiations, Charter said that there was the option for BC Housing to retain the new units on part of the site and deal with the potential purchaser to build the new replacement units.

BC Housing may also opt to find its own development company.

In a 2007 press release, the provincial government, stated that it will be investing half of net proceeds from the land deal into social housing in the City of Vancouver while the other 50 per cent of revenues will be invested in social housing elsewhere in the province.

Redevelopment of Little Mountain is guided by the principle that the residents onsite are being relocated and have first choice to move back into the redeveloped units.

Holborn Development is part of the Holborn Group operated by Vancouver entrepreneur Simon Lim (no relation to Sheryl) who is developing the 127-room Ritz-Carlton hotel.

The Ritz will occupy the first 20 floors of a new 60-storey, Arthur Erickson-designed twisting tower at 1133 West Georgia.

The hotel-condo project is valued at $500 million.

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