Buyers to get deposits back as high-end condos fail to sell
Wendy Mclellan
Province
This photo illustration imagines what The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton would have looked like.
The economic chill has frozen another major development in downtown Vancouver.
The $500-million Ritz-Carlton hotel, with a twisting tower of high-priced condos planned for an empty hole on West Georgia Street, has been put on ice by local developer Holborn Group, and buyers will get their deposits returned, said Joon Kim Tiah, president and CEO of the privately owned company.
“We are going to step back and decide what would be best for the property,” Tiah said yesterday.
“Of course it’s the economic situation, and we don’t know how much longer it will be or whether it will get worse.
“Right now we have no intention of selling that site. We are committed to doing something with it, and if I knew what it was, I would tell you.”
Tiah said the contract with buyers included a clause stating that if fewer than 75 condos were sold by the end of February, the developer could either cancel the sales agreements or it would have to complete the project on schedule and with the same design plans.
The development was supposed to be a 127-room hotel managed by Ritz-Carlton hotels, with 123 luxury condos, priced from $1 million to $28 million.
It was to be ready for occupancy in 2011.
“Because we didn’t reach 75 units — to be honest, it would be unlikely to reach 75 any time soon — we decided to exercise the right to cancel,” he said. “We don’t know at this point what exactly we’ll do. It may be best to wait a bit.”
The future of project, designed by Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson, has been uncertain for months. Last October, the advertising signs disappeared from the construction site at 1133 West Georgia and there was speculation it had been abandoned.
But Tiah said workers have been shoring up the deep construction pit in preparation for building, and that work will be completed and the site secured.
He said the hotel-management contract with the Ritz-Carlton remains in place as well.
“This happens in business — it happens a lot,” Tiah said. “I’ve heard people say that Holborn is going under and that our projects aren’t going through, but I want to dispel all those rumours.
“It’s unfortunate when a project has to be put on hold but we are committed to completing things we’ve started. We are not highly leveraged, we’re in a good position. We are not going broke.”
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