Vancouver eases conditions on developer of long-delayed Little Mountain lands

Vancouver City Council has voted to drop conditions it held over a long-delayed condo and social housing development next to Queen Elizabeth Park.

The move affects a development by Holborn Property Ltd on the so-called Little Mountain lands, a 15-acre site where 234 former social housing units were demolished over a decade ago.

Acting on a recommendation from city staff, council voted seven to three on Wednesday to eliminate occupancy permit holds on the market condo components the planned 1,300-unit development. The vote broke down along party lines, with council’s ABC majority in support.

1:57 Vancouver hoping to kick-start long-stalled Little Mountain development

Those holds specified that the company couldn’t get an occupancy permit for its condo units until it completed replacement social housing units at the site.

Holborn told the city that with the holds in place, it hasn’t been able to secure financing for the project.

“Most developers need financing and we’re not different,” Holborn president Joo Kim Tiah told Global News outside city hall Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of site servicing, credit, a lot of soft costs that’s needed to move the project forward.”

The planned social housing, which will be delivered BC Housing lots at the site, supported Holborn’s application, telling the city it believed it had enough legal assurances that the social housing would be built.

2:16 Details of Vancouver’s Little Mountain property sale released

City staff also noted that Holborn has delivered one social housing building so far, has a second under construction, and has plans to break ground on two more next spring.

However, staff also highlighted a potential risk to the city, noting that eliminating the holds reduces the City’s ability to ensure that these Social Housing Units are constructed and occupied ahead of the market residential units in the Development.”

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Wednesday’s move does not affect a separate occupancy permit hold related to Holborn’s delivery of 48 additional units of social housing on a city-owned lot at the site, which will also include a civic plaza, daycare and neighbourhood house.

ABC Vancouver Coun. Mike Klassen said he was pleased with the vote, telling Global News it will allow the long-overdue project to get moving.

He said he was satisfied with BC Housing’s assurance that it could hold Holborn to its social housing commitments, adding that the city still has holds on the second two phases of the development.

“Whenever we have large-scale projects like this, the market housing has to be built alongside the non-market housing. It just helps to finance the deal and make sure the housing gets built,” he said.

“It wouldn’t make any sense to try and scuttle or slow down the deal, they need to get moving.”

4:33 Rally to take back Little Mountain

OneCity Vancouver Coun. Christine Boyle, who opposed the move, said dropping the holds would eliminate what little power the city had over the developer.

“The public got a bad deal at Little Mountain 15 years ago, and one of the few redeeming qualities from that terrible deal was that Holborn was required to replace the social housing that was torn down before they started building profitable housing, that was one of the few teeth that the city had to hold them accountable,” she said.

“Mayor Sim and ABC just knocked those remaining teeth out. We have no way as a city to ensure this social housing gets built in a timely fashion.”

Boyle said she appreciates the provincial commitments to hold Holborn to the deal, but said a change in government at the provincial level could see that change.

She added that the company has seen the value of the vacant land appreciate massively in the 15 years it has sat empty.

2:05 Take back Little Mountain rally

“The public has no reason to trust Holborn anymore, this site has sat empty for so long in the middle of the city in the middle of a housing crisis … I am skeptical that they are not going to put the public interest ahead of their own profit.”

Tiah said he was happy to sit down with critics of the project, suggesting they don’t fully understand the situation.

“We are moving as expeditiously as possible, and I think there has been a lot of misinformation because enactment only happened in 2018, if you take COVID out of the picture, we’ve been working on this for like three years,” he said.

“Prior to that, if you want to talk about why it took so long to get any rezoning done and enactment done … that’s another different long story.”

Holborn acquired the land from the B.C. government in a contract some critics have called a “sweetheart deal.”

1:39 City of Vancouver unveils long-delayed replacement for former Little Mountain social housing complex

In 2009, about 700 long-time residents were forced out of the site and their units were demolished.

Holborn only finally closed its contract with the B.C. government in 2013, which saw it buy the land for $331 million.

That same deal saw the province extend a $211 million loan to the company which remains interest free until 2026, and included no construction timelines.

The City of Vancouver finally rezoned the land in 2016, and the city approved a development permit application for the southeast corner of the property in 2019.

So far, just one building with 53 social housing units has been delivered at the site.

Tiah said he expects all of the promised social housing to be complete by 2026, with the full, multi-phase market component complete by 2030.

With files from Troy Charles