Checking out
Nanaimo’s hopes for a hotel adjacent to the Vancouver Island Conference Centre have again collapsed with SSS Manhao International Tourism Group’s withdrawal.
SSS Manhao, a subsidiary of China’s Suzhou Youth Travel Services Co. Ltd., had approval for a 240-room hotel on the site and even conducted a ribbon-cutting last year to mark the start of construction.
But it failed to complete the foundation, and city council sought various concessions from the company. SSS Manhao wouldn’t play along, and backed out.
Nanaimo previously initiated legal proceedings against Millennium Nanaimo Properties Ltd. to recover the more than $3 million it was owed, following the Vancouver developer’s failed bid to develop the Gordon Street site.
However, all is not lost for Nanaimo.
Insight Holdings Ltd. is proposing a 32-storey strata-titled hotel for the city’s waterfront. Hilton would manage the property, which would have 303 rooms. Rezoning was approved earlier this year, and a development permit application is pending.
The project would deliver a significant boost to Nanaimo, which currently has approximately 900 provincially approved hotel rooms.
Student focus
University of Victoria (UVic) Properties Investments Inc. is putting students first as it considers expressions of interest regarding a block of Broad Street in the capital’s downtown.
UVic Properties envisions the redevelopment or sale of four properties including the Duck block at Johnston and Broad and three buildings on the opposite end of the block at Yates Street.
The properties were part of a $17 million bequest to the university in 2001 by the late Victoria property developer Michael Williams. Including Vancouver Island Technology Park, UVic Properties holds approximately $100 million in real estate.
The downtown properties require significant upgrades to continue serving the university, however.
“Some of the properties encompassed in the Broad Street assets will require significant maintenance investment in the coming years and are not currently at their highest and best use,” explained a letter inviting expressions of interest in June.
UVic Properties CEO Peter Kuran wants to see the properties better aligned with university needs, including student housing.
“That, ideally, is what we’re hoping comes out of this,” he said. “If there’s a way for us to get more market residential with priority to graduate students, that would be great.”
UVic Properties has received “a handful of proposals” in response to its request and is reviewing these in advance of presenting them to its board in early October.
Gassing up
Malahat Nation has grand plans for the 1,300 acres of Saanich Inlet property it acquired last month from Bamberton Properties LLP.
Steelhead LNG Corp. plans to partner with the Malahat to develop a liquefied natural gas plant on the property, taking advantage of the site’s capacity for a deepwater port. Steelhead is also partnering with Huu-ay-aht First Nations for an LNG plant at Sarita Bay near Port Alberni.
Speaking before last week’s announcement with Steelhead, Malahat CEO Lawrence Lewis said the band is pursuing a mix of industrial and light industrial uses for the property, formerly home to a cement plant.
While previous plans called for various scales of residential development, Cowichan Valley Regional District failed to approve the previous owners’ latest rezoning bid, and its industrial zoning remained. Most recently, a green industrial park was planned for Bamberton.
“The previous owners had pretty grand dreams about what they were going to do there [but] there was no uptake,” Lewis said. “We will continue to build it out as an industrial complex.”
Potential partners for projects include other aboriginal groups and companies such as Steelhead, which Lewis indicated will lease the parcels it requires.
A land-use code the Malahat drafted lays out development principles for the site, and a financial administrative law provides a governance framework.
“[It’s] opened up doors for business partners and joint ventures,” Lewis said.
Most important, it gave the Malahat the necessary financial standing with the First Nations Finance Authority and the First Nations Financial Management Board to secure capital for the purchase.
Pegged at $37.5 million, the reported price is “inaccurate,” Lewis said, declining to disclose the actual amount. •
