[ad_1]
What forces affect the evolution of our cities? When massive increases in density are approved through upzoning, who wins and who loses? This article shines a bit of a spotlight on the money games driving massive increases in density and influencing public processes.
We received a tip that Crombie REIT, the owner of the Safeway site at 1780 East Broadway, is open to selling off the site (perhaps even planning to sell) once it goes through the rezoning process, likely in the first half of 2025. This would not be a new pattern.
Mark Holly, the CEO of Crombie REIT stated during a November 2024 investors’ call that once the real state investment trust gets its rezoning through Vancouver City Council, it plans to review its options, “which will include a monetization of that asset.”
Currently Crombie REIT and its developer partner Westbank have a rezoning application before the City for three big towers soaring to 44, 38 and 37 storeys. All would be rental, at 1044 units. Only 10% would be “below market,” meaning that the rest would be at the top price the market could bear. For visual reference, the tallest tower would be 412 feet, which is taller than the tower currently being constructed by PCI at the Broadway and Granville intersection.
“Monetization” would mean selling the asset and banking the profits. That is, after Vancouver City Council creates a massive windfall profit for the applicants in the form of “land lift,” by approving the rezoning application at a public hearing.
This statement by Holly was made during Crombie REIT’s third-quarter investors’ call* on November 7, 2024. Excerpt:
Lorne Kalmar, Desjardins (21.18) – “You guys obviously did the Zephyr* deal, which was with Westbank. Wondering if there are any plans or changes to the plan with Broadway and Commercial, which I believe is also a JV [joint venture] with Westbank?”
Mark Holly CEO Crombie REIT – “It is a JV with Westbank. Collectively we’ve been working on that entitlement for many years. We are optimistic that sometime in the first half of 2025 we will have that fully entitled, for the three towers and about a thousand rental residential units. Once we get to that point we are going to review our options. Which will include a monetization of that asset.”
Notes: 1. Zephyr is the name of a Safeway / rental building development on Davie Street in Vancouver’s West End, another joint venture between Crombie REIT and Westbank. See “Westbank Continues Selling Spree With $133M Sale Of Zephyr To Crombie REIT” (Storeys, 30-Sept-2024). 2. Anyone can sign up on Crombie’s website and listen to the call, here: https://app.webinar.net/qOG0z0Gbpo4
******
SOME OBSERVATIONS
Why is this revelation important? This project has a controversial, long, and nasty history, as conveyed in one image featured by the Urban Cartoon Syndicate to mark Thanksgiving in 2024. This site has been the subject of much attention for over a decade, a significant amount of public involvement leading to some consensus on what would serve the community, followed by a series of big surprises and massive increases in density being demanded by the developer.
In “Broadway and Commercial: A Public Process Failure?” retired architect and former senior urban designer at the City of Vancouver wrote in Spacing Vancouver: “It appears, in this unfortunate case, that specific market interests may have influenced the allowable density outside of public processes that had already suffered a breach of trust three times (Emerging Directions, the Draft Grandview-Woodland Community Plan and The Citizens Assembly recommendations). Will there be a fourth?” (Link here.)
In “Deconstructing Visuals” in Spacing Vancouver, Erick Villagomez looks at the deceptive practices used to portray what is being proposed at this project. (Link here.) In The “Tower Default – Pt 2” specifically referring to the 1780 East Broadway site, he writes “The Tower Default auto-pilot ultimately accepts and promotes capital-focused developers as the main beneficiaries of this type of development, at the expense of other considerations including the public good.” (Link here.)
Another aspect of this is that it is evidence that YIMBY groups that lobby for city councils to approve massive increases in density are ultimately working as pawns in a money game.
This particular project could also be a poster child for the cases made by Prof Patrick Condon in “Broken City: Land Speculation, Inequality, and Urban Crisis” (UBC Press, 2024). (Link here.)
WHAT YOU CAN DO
This particular rezoning is like going forward to a public hearing in the first half of 2025. Study up on the issues affecting our cities. Prepare to communicate your views to Vancouver mayor and Council, and while you’re at it, consider communicating with your BC MLA about these topics, as the provincial government is increasingly driving municipal urban policy.
The No Megatowers group has documented many of the issues and concerns about this project. They are calling for a more human scale of development and affordable housing. They say “NO MEGATOWERS AT SAFEWAY.” (Link here.) You might consider getting on their list for updates.
REFERENCES
Official rezoning application booklet (132 pages): https://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/1780-e-broadway-rz/resubmission/application-booklet.pdf
ShapeYourCity consultation page: https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/1780-e-broadway-rz
CityHallWatch has covered the various iterations of the project many times. Search “Broadway Safeway” in our search field. For example, “Inside story of a botched community plan process: How top-down interference led to 20 towers proposed for Grandview-Woodland.” – https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/botched-process-towers-grandview/
[ad_2]
Read more
