DEVELOPMENT PARTNER SELECTED FOR LITTLE MOUNTAIN

VANCOUVER – BC Housing has selected Holborn Properties as the development partner for the Little Mountain public housing site in Vancouver.

Holborn Properties is a Vancouver-based real estate company with extensive local and international interests, including residential housing. Locally, Holborn is currently developing properties in Whistler, Squamish, Vancouver, Victoria and Surrey, and is recognized for its community and civic-oriented urban planning, architecture, landscape, and environmental and sustainable design.

Holborn Properties will lead an extensive public consultation process, building on the Memorandum of Understanding reached last year between BC Housing and the City of Vancouver. All of the existing 224 social housing units on site will be replaced with at least an equal number of new social housing units, with the residents having the option to return to one of the new units when they are completed. In preparation for this redevelopment opportunity, BC Housing has put in place a set of “Residents First” relocation guidelines in the past months to assist the residents of Little Mountain.

Little Mountain is Vancouver’s oldest public housing development, built in the mid-1950s. The property is east of Queen Elizabeth Park, and bound by Ontario and Main Streets and 33rd and 37th Avenues. The total area is more than 15 acres.

Redeveloping provincially-owned properties that have aging buildings on under-utilized land is a key element of the provincial housing strategy, Housing Matters BC. A copy of the strategy can be downloaded from www.housing.gov.bc.ca.

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Media contacts:
Susan Thom
Executive Director
Corporate Communications
BC Housing
604 230-1301

Diane Lundstrom
Assistant Vice President Partnerships and PR Holborn Group
604 688-8387