An aerial view of 435 Cherry Avenue. (Photo via Colliers Canada)
B.C.’s Housing Minister says the 42-unit apartment complex on Cherry Avenue in Kamloops could be demolished and redeveloped in the future.
Speaking on NL Newsday, Ravi Kahlon, says while redevelopment is “highly likely” in the future, the short term goal is to try and find people in need housing as soon as possible.
“We’re not talking about people that are in encampments. These are people who are on the verge of being homeless,” Kahlon said. “What we’re trying to do is stop that flow so that we can bring some stability and then once we have enough supply come online, then we can come back to these sites and say, ‘let’s tear it down and let’s do something else on it.'”
“We’ve been able to do that in some communities because those communities got more housing online earlier, and we will get to that place certainly in Kamloops.”
The province bought the property for $12.8 million with plans to turn into housing for low- and moderate-income families, seniors, individuals, and people living with disabilities.
“If a lot of these folks don’t get housing right away, there is a risk of them to be homeless. Right now, we’re in the purpose of trying to find people the stable accommodation,” Kahlon said. “Over the long run as our investments continue year over year, that is when we’re going to be able to get new units coming online, move people in, and then redevelop the sites. In the long term, its highly likely that that site will get developed into additional units – new units – for individuals.”
The three-storey building had an assessed value of $4.2 million, with the province saying an independent appraisal of the site in February valued the property at $10.4 million. It has been vacant since a fire in Jan. 2021.
A nearly hourlong back-and-forth between Kahlon and Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar during budget estimates last week shed more light into the sale of the building. Kahlon said the actual purchase price was $11.2 million, with the remaining $1.6 million going towards things like closing costs, legal fees, and property transfer taxes.
“For that site, I know BC Housing is doing a bit of an assessment and I believe that the units are livable right now but we don’t want to rule out development down in the future,” Kahlon said.
“This is why when I met with mayor and council, we explored a whole host of options about how to get people the housing they need. How do we get the most out of every single parcel of land in this province?”
BC Housing will own the building with the provincial Crown agency currently in the process of choosing a society to manage operations. Tenants are expected to move in at the end of summer once additional renovated are completed.
