What is with the empty lot at Robson and Broughton, prime real estate sitting undeveloped?
Q. What’s the story behind the vacant lot on Robson at Broughton?
A. A lot of people seem to want to know this. In Vancouver, no vacant lot goes unnoticed. When I googled “empty lot Robson and Broughton,” it brought up about half a dozen references to it on various blogs around town. I guess it is the new mystery lot, now that the old mystery lot on Georgia right across from the entrance to Stanley Park got occupied with condos a few years ago.
So, in the service of all of you wondering, and because I am waiting for phone calls and procrastinating, I went and did the research on the lot, which is 1401 Robson.
By the way, all of you now owe me $17.62 (one property search, one corporate search on BC Online) and $22 HK (one corporate search in Hong Kong). As soon as I get that Kickstarter/Paypal thing going, you can just send in your spare cash. Thank you so much.
Here’s what I could find out.
The property has been owned since, it looks like, 1973 by some consortium of people from Hong Kong. I don’t recognize any of their names, but I have appended the HK corporate search information below. Maybe some of you can do your own searching on the names or perhaps you know them.
The lot, which is 132 by 131, was assessed at $7,349,000 and there is no record of the property changing owners on the file, which means it’s been owned a long time by the same people. It is owned by a company called Melford Estates. When I checked B.C. corporate records, all I could see was that Melford Estates, with an office at 2900-550 Burrard, was registered as an extraprovincial company from Hong Kong.
Thanks to the magic of the Internet and Visa, I could go to the Hong Kong government website and find it. The corporate document I retrieved is below.
I find no record of a development application going in within computer memory to the Vancouver planning department.
In 1947, the city directory (now searchable through the Vancouver Public Library), says that 1401 Robson was the Broughton Grocery. Doesn’t that bring an image and a tear to your eye?
Okay, that’s all I could find out in my allotted fooling-around time. Any more info, anyone?
| Basic Company Information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Name History |
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| 07-SEP-1973 MELFORD ESTATES LIMITED |
| Registered Office |
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| 17/F CENTRAL BUILDING 1-3 PEDDER STREET, HONG KONG |
| Share Capital | ||||||
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| List of Directors |
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| No. 1 Name in English: HUI , CHUN PING CHARLES Name in Chinese: 許晉平 HKID No. / CR No.: A416913(4) Overseas Passport No.: – Passport Issuing Country: – Director Type: Individual |
| No. 2 Name in English: HUI , CHUNG YEE RICHARD Name in Chinese: 許晉義 HKID No. / CR No.: E218480(3) Overseas Passport No.: – Passport Issuing Country: – Director Type: Individual |
| No. 3 Name in English: HUI , JENKIN Name in Chinese: 許晉乾 HKID No. / CR No.: D262276(A) Overseas Passport No.: – Passport Issuing Country: – Director Type: Individual |
| No. 4 Name in English: HUI , SAI FUN Name in Chinese: 許世勳 HKID No. / CR No.: A333915(A) Overseas Passport No.: – Passport Issuing Country: – Director Type: Individual |
| Particulars of Secretary |
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| Particulars of Individual Secretary #1 Surname: HO Other Names: CHEN LAM Chinese Name: 何春霖 Previous Name: – Alias: – Residential Address: HOI TIN COURT 3/F FLAT 6 ABERDEEN CENTRE 8 NAM NING STREET, HONG KONG HKID No.: E254698(5) Overseas Passport No.: – Passport Issuing Country: – Date of Appointment: – Important Note: – |
| Particulars of Individual Secretary #2 Surname: LAM Other Names: SIU KWONG Chinese Name: 林少光 Previous Name: – Alias: – Residential Address: FLAT E, 18/F., WILLOW MANSION, TAIKOO SHING, HONG KONG HKID No.: A945920(3) Overseas Passport No.: – Passport Issuing Country: – Date of Appointment: – Important Note: – |