Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

Vancouver Expropriates Sahota-Owned Two Derelict Hotels On The Downtown Eastside For $1 Each

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 07 Nov, 2019 06:46 PM

    VANCOUVER - City council has voted to seize control of two derelict hotels in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside after a lawyer for the property owners warned the municipality it is exposing itself to the risk of litigation by expropriating them for $1 each.

     

    Mayor Kennedy Stewart described council's unanimous decision on Wednesday to take over the Balmoral and Regent hotels as a "historic vote."

     

    The expropriation "is a clear message that we are not afraid to use every tool at our disposal to create new affordable homes," he said in a statement.

     

    A teary-eyed Coun. Jean Swanson, who has spent years advocating for the people of Downtown Eastside, made the motion to vote for expropriation, calling it a "moral decision."

     

    Coun. Adriane Carr told her colleagues: "There are no two better examples of urban blight than these two buildings."

     

    Lawyer Evan Cooke said his clients had received at least 10 offers for the properties, with one in the range of $20 million if the city withdrew its expropriation notice.

     

    The city filed a notice of expropriation for the buildings about 15 months ago after it wasn't able to negotiate their purchase.

     

    Cooke asked the city to abandon the expropriation and negotiate with the owners on the basis of actual evidence on the market value for the two hotels.

     

    "The owners have communicated over and over again for more than six months that they are willing to convey title of these properties to the City of Vancouver," Cooke said.

     

    "They have only asked that they be treated fairly in the process and paid market value."

     

    Cooke also suggested the city allow the owners to negotiate with outside parties.

     

    "(The owners are) not trying to hold on to these properties but it's a bit rich, I think, for the city to block an open-market sale of these properties when there's so much interest."

     

    Two of the property owners, Pal and Gudy Sahota, were listed as speakers at the council meeting but they did not appear when their names were called.

     

    A staff report also recommended that the city spend $350,000 on each of the buildings to make them secure, which would include installing security systems and conducting regular patrols.

     

    Paul Mochrie, deputy city manager, said it would cost about $46 million to renovate the Balmoral and about $40 million for the Regent. He put the cost of demolishing them at about $3 million.

     

    The Balmoral and Regent hotels are known as single-room occupancy buildings, or SROs. They sit opposite each other on East Hastings Street.

     

    It's a model of housing that sprang up in Vancouver as transient accommodation for loggers and fishermen many years ago, but has since become a source of low-income housing.

     

    More than 300 of the city's lowest-income tenants were relocated when the hotels were separately ordered shut down in 2017 and 2018 by the chief building officer after they were deemed to be unsafe.

     

    A presentation by Andrew Newman, the associate director of real estate operations for the city, said the Downtown Eastside is home to 19,960 people. About 53 per cent of them are considered low income.

     

    Jack Gates, who was a tenant at the Regent Hotel, told council the bathroom floors were rotten in the building.

     

    "I never knew when I was taking a shower whether the tub would fall through," he said.

     

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Lane Closures Coming To Lions Gate Bridge Thursday Night

    Drivers are advised that single-lane alternating traffic will be in effect from 10 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7, to 5 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, 2019, for joint and bearing repairs on the Lions Gate Bridge.

    Lane Closures Coming To Lions Gate Bridge Thursday Night

    Conservative Post-election Gathering Gets Underway On Parliament Hill

    Conservative Post-election Gathering Gets Underway On Parliament Hill
    OTTAWA - Members of the federal Conservative caucus gathered Wednesday on Parliament Hill to sift the ashes of the 2019 federal election campaign — and contemplate the future of Leader Andrew Scheer.    

    Conservative Post-election Gathering Gets Underway On Parliament Hill

    Celebrity Businessman Kevin O'leary, Wife Sued In Deadly Boat Crash

    TORONTO - A fatal boat crash on an Ontario lake this summer has prompted a wrongful death lawsuit against celebrity businessman Kevin O'Leary and his wife Linda O'Leary, who was driving their vessel.    

    Celebrity Businessman Kevin O'leary, Wife Sued In Deadly Boat Crash

    Canada's Down Syndrome Community Helps Teach Google How To Understand Speech

    Canada's Down Syndrome Community Helps Teach Google How To Understand Speech
    That's what Google estimates people with Down syndrome experience because of speech difficulties associated with physiological differences in their mouths.

    Canada's Down Syndrome Community Helps Teach Google How To Understand Speech

    RCMP Detectives At Rural B.C. Community Of Anglemont After Two Bodies Found

    RCMP Detectives At Rural B.C. Community Of Anglemont After Two Bodies Found
    ANGLEMONT, B.C. - RCMP are investigating the discovery of two bodies in a home in British Columbia's southern Interior.

    RCMP Detectives At Rural B.C. Community Of Anglemont After Two Bodies Found

    Quebec Backtracks On Changes To Immigration Program Aimed At Students

    Quebec Backtracks On Changes To Immigration Program Aimed At Students
    QUEBEC - The Quebec government is backtracking on proposed changes to a popular immigration program aimed at university students that would've seen many of them sent home.    

    Quebec Backtracks On Changes To Immigration Program Aimed At Students

    PrevNext