RICHMOND: Low-cost housing, child-care centre among casualties
KENT SPENCER
Province
Richmond Coun. Bill McNulty stands under SkyTrain tracks at No. 3 Road and Capstan Way where a station and other developments have been halted because of the recession.
Richmond stands to lose $25 million in developer-added benefits as a major downtown condo project is shut down, says a city councillor.“This is Richmond’s first casualty in the economic downturn,” Coun. Bill McNulty said yesterday. “Our losses are extremely significant.”
Staff sent a report to Richmond’s general purposes committee yesterday, recommending that approval be rescinded for the Capstan Village development at No. 3 Road and Capstan Way.
Staff said the developers, Pinnacle International and Concord Pacific, have not fulfilled their requirements since preliminary approval was given 20 months ago.
“The development brought a laudable opportunity to the community. It was a stimulus to north Richmond. You can’t measure that. I don’t know if the next proposal will be the same,” said McNulty.
Councillors will likely vote on the issue on Jan. 12.
McNulty said the developers have withdrawn their promise to pay $15 million toward a Canada Line station at Capstan Way.
Instead, Pinnacle’s Dan Kent offered $500,000 in a Nov. 27 letter to council. The balance would follow upon 50per-cent completion of the project.
Staff said the offer was not secured by a letter of credit and was not acceptable to TransLink, which is building the line. Pinnacle representatives did not return phone calls yesterday.
The station would have served 16 highrise towers and 2,136 housing units. It would have been added after Canada Line’s completion later this year.
“Stations are usually built when there’s people. Now, there’s no people,” said spokesman Alan Dever of the Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc., which is building the Canada Line.
McNulty said Richmond also stands to lose 50,000 square feet of low-cost rental housing and $4 million in funding for a 25-space child-care facility. A Richmond property was also due to be sold on the seven-hectare site.
In the meantime, the zoning would revert to commercial and industrial.
