WithUsVille
The BC Liberal government's Little Mountain sell-off was always about their stupid, phoney made for TeeVee budget surpluses.
Here are Lori Culbert and Dan Fumano from a couple of years ago in the VSun:
...The (B.C.) Liberals have maintained that selling Little Mountain gave them the money to build social housing in other locations, but Postmedia discovered that — because (developer) Holborn hasn’t yet paid for the bulk of the land — the Liberals instead borrowed the money from the Treasury Board and promised to pay it back once Holborn settled its debt...
Now, thanks to a whole lot of work by David Chudnovsky and folk in the neighbourhood as well as Jeremy Allingham and the CBC we actually know just how bad the deal really was:
After 13 years of questions and uncertainty surrounding the privatization of the Little Mountain lands, details of the deal are finally public.CBC News has obtained the purchase and sale agreement between the provincial government and developer Holborn Properties after protracted efforts through freedom of information processes.The contract shows that the sale price was $334 million, but the province says only $89 million has been paid by Holborn.The B.C. Liberal government that was in power at the time of the 2008 deal gave Holborn $211 million in interest-free loans on an 18-year term, the agreement shows. Interest will not accrue on that loan until Dec. 31, 2026...{snip}...Also in the deal was an additional $88 million in low-interest loans for non-market housing, repayable by 2050...
Gosh.
It looks to be pretty clear why the developer worked so hard to make sure the contract never saw the light of day.
As for the super fine members of the government of the day...What, them worry?
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Image at the top of the post?...It's from a 2012 2nd quarter budget update from Cookie Dough Mike that made the skullduggery visible for all who wanted to look and dig...Unfortunately, few folks at the time, especially folks in the local corpMedia, really did.
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3 comments:
Holborn was too busy planning and building Trump Tower. Have a look at the photo fronting this article. I wonder if Geoff Meggs took the opportunity to ask Mr. Tiah how things were coming along at Little Mountain?
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/courier-archive/news/vancouver-developer-breaks-silence-in-trump-tower-controversy-3069069
always thought there was something stinky about that deal and now we have the proof. The b.c. lieberals called themselves the party of business. OMG, that kind of deal leaves businesses bankrupt, if you're the seller.
Given the land hasn't really been paid for, the deal stinks on ice, provides no benefits to the citizens of Vancouver or the province, the current government might give some thought to giving the 'buyers' their money back and expropriating the land and using it for affordable family housing for families making less than $200K a year, who live or work in Vancouver who do not own recreational or rental property. This could be a well planned community much like Champlain Heights or South False Creeks.
This company bought a deal which no one ever gets. Very little money down, no payments until much, much later and no requirement to build. During this housing crisis something needs to be done and not for developers and their friends.
The whole deal stinks on ice. Makes me wonder who got what out of this deal besides the buyers and who amongst that company knows who and is related to who. Enquiring minds would like to know.
A most interesting question Lew.
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e.a.f.--
One could even argue that based on the structure of the repayment structure of the loan that there was an incentive not to build.
(post coming)
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