It’s official. The Ritz-Carlton project being developed by the Holborn Company is now being cancelled, with letters going on to buyers this week, as reported by Bruce Constantineau at the Sun.
This is sure to rev up the engines of those critical of what’s happened at Little Mountain, the social-housing project that the province awarded to Holborn to redevelop. Most of the people got moved out and it’s now sitting partially boarded up, but little is happening. Actually, I should say, nothing is happening. The city has been trying to get Holborn, which was Simon Lim but now seems to be represented by his brother-in-law in the media and at Vision Vancouver fundraisers, to at least start holding consultations with the community.
More pressure on the provincial government — just in time for the election, yes sir — to explain what it is doing with this empty site. Switching developers won’t help, since I don’t know of a developer in town at this point who is willing to start anything.
UPDATE: Got a brief message from Housing Minister Rich Coleman, who says the Little Mountain project is still on track to his knowledge at this point. and that BC Housing officials will be meeting with Holborn’s new CEO Friday. The province holds a large non-refundable deposit from Holborn for the site.