Squamish Nation approves highrises
Joanne Lee-Young
The Province
The Squamish Nation has approved going ahead in partnership with Westbank Development to build a $3-billion housing project with 6,000 new units in 11 towers on reserve land in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood.
Khelsilem, a Squamish Nation councillor and spokesperson who goes by one name, described a vote on Tuesday as a “resounding mandate” in a process that required simple majority of votes cast by eligible nation members.
He said 87 per cent of voting members, or 718 out of 827, said Yes to three plots of reserve land at Sen̓áḵw being leased for 120 years. A slightly smaller number of voting members, 665 out of 826, or 81 per cent, approved of the partnership with Westbank Development whereby the parties will split the revenue equally.
The estimated construction cost of the project, in a prime location next to the Burrard Bridge and Vanier Park, is $3 billion.
The Squamish Nation is hoping to make between $8 billion to $10 billion in revenue from rent and condo sales over the project’s 120-year life, said Khelsilem. With Westbank making an equivalent amount, total revenue estimates rise to as much as $20 billion.
Money from provincial property transfer taxes and others for condo sales will flow to the nation and it also has the authority to levy its own taxes as municipalities do.
Khelsilem said the nation will be contributing the land to the partnership, and take on half the debt, but Westbank will be responsible for securing the $3 billion in construction financing.
Construction on the first phase is expected to begin in 2021.
Reserve land cannot be used as collateral for bank financing because it can’t be seized for nonpayment. Under the Indian Act, it is deemed to be owned by the federal government and cannot taken away from the Squamish Nation. Also, the city of Vancouver has no power to regulate what is built on it.
So the new partnership intends to ask for a 120-year lease from the federal government and Westbank will present that lease as collateral to potential financiers, which Khelsilem said will include the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Khelsilem said all major decisions will be made jointly by the two partners. He brushed aside questions about the developer’s reputation for building and selling luxury condos to overseas buyers as being at odds with the Squamish Nation’s desire for this to be “an economic development project with intended revenue to pay for social services and housing.”
The currently targeted mix for the approximately 6,000 new units at this project will include between 70 to 90 per cent of market rental units and the rest will be strata condos, with the ratio varying depending on market conditions, said Khelsilem.
If the market changes and there is a need to raise revenue more quickly, the number of strata condos could increase, said Toby Baker, the CEO of Nch’kay Development Corporation, which is the Squamish Nation’s economic development company.
There will also be several hundred affordable rental housing and other units for Squamish nation members.
The nation’s experience working in a 50-50 partnership with another large, powerful developer on a project for 1,400 homes at Porteau Cove, off the Sea to Sky-Highway in Howe Sound, ended with Concord Pacific using an option to buy out the Squamish nation for $1 after the project got caught in the credit crisis of 2008. Court documents showed that the Squamish Nation tried to retain its stake.
Khelsilem described the deal with Westbank as being much better and more sophisticated with the biggest difference being that the Sen̓áḵw lands “can’t be lost to the Squamish Nation,” whereas the Porteau Cove deal involved fee-simple land that was jointly owned.
“With the value of the lands as our contribution, we have a strong negotiating position.”
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