The Globe and Mail - 06.03.2020

FRIDAY,MARCH6,2020 | THEGLOBEANDMAILO REALESTATE | H3

W

hen the Squamish
Nation announced its
ambitious plan to add 11
residential towers to the south
end of Burrard Bridge, adding
6,000 extra units of housing to
the area, more than a few eye-
brows were raised.
The high-density Senakw pro-
ject, on a boomerang-shaped 11.6
acres that stretches east and west
from the bridge, will be built
quickly because the First Nation
does not have to go through the
gauntlet of the city zoning and
permitting process.
The acreage is federal land for
Indigenous use and benefit, and
for more than a decade, the
Squamish had planned to devel-
op it. Now, with Westbank as
partners, the Squamish will play
a key role in providing thousands
of units of rental housing for Van-
couver in the next few years. The
five-phase plan is for towers rang-
ing from 32 to 56 storeys. At least
70 per cent of the 6,000 units will
be rental. The remainder will be
sold as market-rate condos on
leasehold land. Although the
project won’t be marketed as
“luxury,” it will likely fall into
that category, says Squamish spo-
kesperson and council member
Khelsilem, who uses one name.
The location and views alone
would make it pricey housing.
Rental has proved to be a chal-
lenge to most developers be-
cause of high land values and

costs, a lot of red tape and tight

margins. But for the Squamish,

they own the land and have full

control of whatever gets devel-

oped, so construction of the first

two towers will start as soon as

next year, Khelsilem says.

Originally, the plan had only

been for 3,000 units, but the

Squamish pushed to double the

density, he says.

“Really that’s where the profit

angle is important for us, because

we are trying to create a long-

term revenue stream for the na-

tion,” he says, seated at a coffee

shop in Chinatown. “So it was the

nation pushing for an explora-

tion of increased density on it,

not the developer.”

There had been a much lower

density project planned for the

site in 2007, but then the eco-

nomic downturn of 2008 hap-

pened, and the plan was shelved.

The delay was fortuitous because

rampant speculation drove land

values up, reaching record prices

a couple of years ago.

“We are a little bit late to the

game if we see it through that

lens,” he says. “Mind you, a lot of

that was condo and a lot of it was

speculation. So building 4,800

rental as the tech industry comes

to town might be also seizing

that moment.”

The project is just the start of a

new development venture for

the Squamish, which aims to

generate revenue to cover pro-

grams and services for its com-

munity of 4,100 members. Most

of their current revenue comes

from passive lease arrangements,

but that’s become old school,

Khelsilem says. The new plan is

for the nation to become devel-

oper of properties that can gener-

ate long-term revenues and max-

imize profits, Khelsilem says.

“We have a small team, but we

will be scaling up. Instead of hav-

ing a bunch of non-Squamish

people running the company, we

could have our own people run-

ning the company. But how

many people are trained and

educated to take on the jobs? The

answer is next to none. So I’m

thinking about how to prepare

our community members to take

advantage of those careers.”

Because they don’t have the fi-

nancing to go it alone, so far

they’ve been entering into 50-50

profit sharing deals with estab-

lished developers. They put up

the land; the developer puts up

the financing.

“We are still figuring it out, but

we are learning a lot,” he says.

“Financing is a big one. We are at

the early stage, because we don’t

have access to financing the

same way that a normal develop-

er would.”

He says they’ve received a sur-

prising amount of support for the

Senakw project, which could

draw 10,000 to 12,000 residents

to the area. Supporters have in-

cluded all levels ofgovernment,

and government agencies and

neighbourhood groups that want

to work with the Squamish.

Khelsilem spoke about the

project at a recent Canada Mort-

gage and Housing Corp. confer-

ence on the issue of housing and

supply. At the conference, Mayor

Stewart Kennedy also spoke, and,

as he has done before in media

interviews, he praised the pro-

ject.

But not everyone is as open to

the idea, Khelsilem concedes.

Former chief planner for the

city of Vancouver, Ray Spaxman,

has been an outspoken oppo-

nent of the project. He says there

is an absence of crucial informa-

tion for so much added density,

and nobody can offer him an-

swers.

“All that we’ve got is the prop-

aganda,” Mr. Spaxman says. “I

don’t think it’s going to be espe-

cially livable, at that density. I

can’t quite understand the de-

sign.

“If you talk to people in

[neighbouring] False Creek

South and Kits Point, who worry

about what this is going to mean,

there’s nothing that says, ‘this is

where the schools are going to go,

where the transit is going, and

the sewers, and the water, and

open space. Here’s the way to

walk from one part of town to an-

other. The towers will be ar-

ranged this way around these

corridors with these views and all

that sort of stuff.’

“Normally you are able to look

at that and it’s explained. There

isn’t enough information to

make your mind up.”

Others have questioned the ef-

fect such density will have on

current transit, schools, infras-

tructure and amenities. Because

the project is mostly rental, the

developers are not including

much parking, because renters

typically use transit. So far, it’s

unknown whether financing will

allow for affordable housing at

Senakw, other than for Indige-

nous members.

Others have wondered wheth-

er the project will adhere to the

provincial speculation and va-

cancy tax, and the foreign-buyers

tax. Khelsilem says that lease-

hold land doesn’t typically at-

tract speculators, but they could

find a mechanism to apply such

taxes. And because the nation

collects all taxes, it would be in

their interests to do so. They’d

similarly find a mechanism to

mirror the Residential Tenancy

Act, to protect both tenants and

themselves, in the event a tenant

matter has to go to arbitration.

“I see comments, some funny

stuff, about how the First Nation

are just wanting to be greedy like

everybody else now,” Khelsilem

says. “I would say there are peo-

ple who are genuinely, in their

heart, opposed to anyone mak-

ing a profit off of housing, and

politically they disagree with it.

“But the other side of it, too, is

there are also people who might

normally be opposed to a tower

by a private developer, but be-

cause it’s a First Nation doing it,

they are actually less opposed,

because fundamentally our inter-

est isn’t to make money for one

individual or anything like that.

It’s not like most of the develop-

ers, where it’s a family that’s go-

ing to become billionaires off of

it. With this, all the profit is going

to go back into [the Squamish]

community, services for housing,

education, health care et cetera.”

TheSenakwproject’sfive-phaseplanwillsee11residentialtowersbuilt,rangingfrom32to56storeystall.

Squamish Nation seekstochartitsownpath

Group’shigh-density

11-towerdevelopment

projectwillprovide

thousandsofunits

ofrentalhousing

KERRY
GOLD

OPINION

VANCOUVER

Khelsilem,seenbelowVancouver’sBurrardBridgeonlandthatwill

bedevelopedfortheSenakwproject,saystheprojecthasreceiveda

surprisingamountofsupportfrommultiplelevelsofgovernment.

JONATHANHAYWARD/THECANADIANPRESS

WHAT THEY GOTThis 995-square-
foot, two-level loft penthouse
across the street from Kitsilano
Beach has brick walls, exposed
wood ceiling, a 200-square-foot
private rooftop deck with moun-
tain and ocean views, two wood-
burning fireplaces and large bay
window. Built in 1987, the build-

ing is fully rain-screened and the

one-bedroom-with-flex-space

unit had been fully updated

throughout.

THE ACTIONThe sellers had pur-

chased the unit in June, 2014, for

$582,000. Listing agent Denny

Dumas had more than 100 show-

ings, with open houses every

week. It was the highest priced

one-bedroom condo sold in Kitsi-

lano in 2019. “In a different mar-

ket, this would have sold much

quicker,” Mr. Dumas said, citing

the market downturn. Several

people came through after seeing

the pictures on their Instagram

feed, he said. The unit sold in No-

vember and recently closed.

THEAGENT’STAKE“Rarely do prop-

erties like this come on the mar-

ket,” he said. “It truly is a one-of-

a-kind place.”

–KERRYGOLD

PenthouseonthebeachsetsKitsilanorecord

2110CornwallAve.,No.306,
Vancouver
KITSILANO

Listingprice:$998,888
Sellingprice:$950,000
Previoussellingprice:$582,000
(2014)
Daysonmarket:73
Taxes:$2,112.96
Maintenancefee:$441
Listingagent:DennyDumas,
KellerWilliamsElite

DONEDEAL