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       The Little Mountain, 15-acre property, which continues to sit mostly empty after lengthy legal battles, in Vancouver on Sept. 9, 2021. It once housed about 700 people before being demolished.

       Rafal Gerszak/Rafal Gerszak

       The social housing that was demolished at Vancouver’s controversial Little Mountain site 12 years ago will all be replaced by the end of 2024 at the latest, according to an announcement Friday by the province and developer.

       But there is no deadline for the other part of the much-criticized agreement – payment for the $211-million still owing on the $334-million property sale. The deal was signed in 2008 by the then Liberal government and developer Holborn Properties.

       Holborn, which has paid a deposit of $35-million and built some social housing so far as part of the sale agreement, is not required to start making payments on the remainder owing until it gets occupancy permits for its market-rate apartments, whose construction timeline is still undefined.

       B.C. deal gave developer more than $200-million in interest-free loans, newly released contract reveals

       Nor is there any likelihood of an inquiry into the deal or a take-back of the property by the province, said Attorney-General and Housing Minister David Eby as he provided details on his government’s efforts to fix what he has repeatedly called a disastrous deal.

       “There is no option where we can take back Little Mountain without paying hundreds of millions to the developer,” said Mr. Eby, who criticized the previous government over the contract, calling it negligent and a giveaway. He also said it would be better to focus on making improvements than expending energy on an inquiry.

       But, he said, he is hopeful about the project for the first time because Holborn came forward last week to release details of the contract, and to work out the memorandum of understanding with the province on when all the social housing will be built.

       Built in 1954, Little Mountain was a huge social-housing complex that had housed more than 700 people in 234 apartments and rowhouses on the six-hectare site in a prime location next to Queen Elizabeth Park before it was sold.

       Then housing minister Rich Coleman spearheaded the plan to sell the property, saying that it would generate money to provide much more social housing all over the city. The $300-million from the sale was used to build 14 social-housing projects in Vancouver in the decade afterwards.

       Part of the sale agreement was that Holborn would replace the social housing, with a presumed value at the time of $88-million, plus an additional 48 apartments. The company is also planning to build about 1,100 other apartments and townhouses on the site, most of them to be sold at market value.

       But, after people were moved off the site and the old housing was demolished in 2009, nothing happened for years.

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       Finally, under some pressure from the city, Holborn built a 53-unit social-housing building that opened in 2015. It is now at work building a second such complex with 62 units.

       According to a timeline the company provided recently, it was already planning to break ground for the three remaining social-housing buildings by 2022.

       Friday’s memorandum of understanding promises that those buildings, with the remaining 167 units, will be completed by Dec. 31, 2024.

       There is no set date for when the other portions of the site will be developed, although the company’s timeline indicates a presentation centre will be set up in early 2022, with a sales launch planned for later that year.

       Holborn issued a statement last week, when the contract was released through a freedom-of-information process that took more than three years, saying that it had taken time to start developing the site because of lengthy city rezoning processes.

       “The city required a brand-new policy framework – the first of its kind on a single parcel of land in Vancouver – to guide any future rezoning on the site. The policy planning program began in July, 2007, and was approved in June, 2012,” said the statement, which went on to note that rezoning wasn’t finalized until 2018.

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       In a prepared statement issued by the province, Holborn Properties chief executive officer Joo Kim Tiah is quoted saying: “The province and the City of Vancouver continue to do great work in supporting housing affordability and addressing homelessness within our communities. This is exemplified both by the progress made over the past six months … and this MOU.

       “We look forward to maintaining the positive momentum at Little Mountain as it is progressively redeveloped into a thriving, inclusive and sustainable community.”

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