BCBusiness

26 BCBUSINESS MARCH 2016 eveloper Daniel Boffo knew what he was getting into when his company, Boffo Properties, proposed a midrise tower at the northern end of Commercial Drive's retail strip. Of all Vancouver's neigh- bourhoods, Grandview-Woodlands is the most likely to mobilize against the mere glimmer of gentrification. As well, for a lot of people in Vancouver and beyond, a residential tower represents the greatest threat to their neighbourhood—an invi- tation for property values to rise and for other towers to follow. Sure enough, a No Tower Coalition has formed in opposi- tion to Boffo's 12-sto- rey project; its signs are staked in front ya rd s t h roug hout the area, a protest has been staged at Grandview Park and a petition circulated asking council to vote against the proposal on the grounds that it's out of scale. Even coalition spokesper- son Jak King was sur- prised at the level of support his group has received. "I've done a few campaigns in Grandview, and I've never seen 3,350 sig- natures," says King, a community activist, author and historian who's lived in the area for almost 40 years. B o f fo's m i xe d - use development would include 18,000 square feet of retail space, 200 market condos and 30 separate social housing units to be owned and operated by the nonprofit Kettle Friendship Society. The soci- ety—which has operated out of an aging space at 1725 Venables for almost 40 years—helps people with mental illness find housing and employment, and has a drop-in centre that serves around 150 people a day. It's stretched to capacity. Boffo purchased prop- erty on either side of the building and is proposing redevelopment as a way for Kettle to nearly double in size. (Part of the plan includes the purchase of a city- owned parking lot to the north.) Both Kettle and Boffo see the project as a win-win solution in an era of evaporating government sup- port for social housing—but for now, the application to rezone (current zoning only allows for four storeys) has been put on hold as the city works on a community plan for Grandview-Woodlands. A staff report on recommen- dations coming out of a citizens' assembly review of the plan is expected to be presented to council in April. Boffo—who has several small-to-mid-size housing projects under his belt throughout the Lower Mainland—has been through this before. Three years ago, he devel- oped a 29-unit social housing project near gritty Oppenheimer Park, at 555 Cordova. The project initially received backlash from area activists opposed to market development, but so far it hasn't gentrified that section of Cor- dova, which includes a soup kitchen and daycare. He sees the Kettle project as an opportunity to expand upon that model. "We as developers are look- ing to improve our game and get more involved with the community." Still, he admits that this may be his most challenging, and controversial, project to date. "This isn't a project for everybody—it's a passionate commu- nity," says the 36-year-old son of Italian immigrants (his father, Tarcisio, started a Burnaby-based landscape and con- struction business in 1963 that would become Boffo Properties). Beyond per- sonal financial considerations, he wor- ries that community opposition could scupper the opportunity for Kettle to find a much-needed new home. "The last thing we want is a situation where our partnership is affected and the Kettle is back at square one." s Vancouver's planning department pushes to densify outside of down- town, fights between developers and community groups are only going to increase. In the past five years, there's been a prolonged battle over the new Norquay Village—a 1.35-kilometre stretch of commercial and single- family houses around Kingsway that underwent rezoning to allow for six- to-16-storey towers. The 15-acre Little Mountain social A LARGE PART OF THE CITY'S JUSTIFICATION FOR DENSITY RESTS WITH THE BELIEF THAT MORE SUPPLY WILL TRANSLATE INTO GREATER AFFORD- ABILITY. YET DESPITE A FRENZIED FEW YEARS OF CONSTRUCTION IN VANCOUVER, CONDO PRICES IN THE REGION INCREASED 14 PER CENT MORE IN 2015 THAN IN THE PREVIOUS YEAR

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