Mistrust between West End residents and Westbank Corp., Peterson Investment and Henriquez Partners Architects raised concerns February 9 that the former St. John’s Church at 1401 Comox Street could go up in flames.
Westbank and Peterson have proposed to build a residential tower on the site. City Council put the approval process on hold for the site to allow for more public consultation.
On February 9, members of the development team held a Buddhist blessing ceremony, according to architect Gregory Henriquez.
“Every project we have Buddhist monks come because this is [Peterson president] Ben Yeung’s religion,” Henriquez told Business in Vancouver February 10.
“We did that for the Woodward’s redevelopment and we did it for 700 West 8th.”
West End Neighbours (WEN) member Randy Helten told Business in Vancouver that he thought that it was strange that the site owners would light a flame in a building that they acknowledge is a fire hazard.
WEN is a group that opposes putting a tower on the site.
“We’re not accusing them of vandalism or arson – nothing to that effect,” Helten said.
Henriquez said the Buddhist ceremony involved lighting a flame in a large urn. The fire generated smoke and a neighbour called the fire department, which soon arrived.
“The site is a fire hazard because people came in and stripped out the sprinkler system – all the plumbing was stripped out. The electrical system was stripped out,” Henriquez said. “This building is pretty much sitting there as kindling. But this ceremonial flame would not catch it on fire. There were four fire extinguishers there as well. There was nothing dangerous going on.”