THERE is renewed hope that the stalled Evelyn project in West Vancouver will actually see homes built on it.
Creditors have approved a plan that would see development giant Onni step in to take over the project, in collaboration with one of the existing mortgage lenders.
The deal, which would restructure the debt load and pay off some of the unsecured lenders' bills, will be presented to the B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday for approval.
Millenium Evelyn Properties had intended to build 109 homes in three complexes on the 20-acre site near Keith Road and Taylor Way. Roughly a third of those units had been pre-sold. The homebuyers' money is being held in a lawyer's trust.
Evelyn's parent company Millenium Development, who also ran the troubled Olympic Village project in Vancouver, ran into financial trouble
during the credit crisis of 2008. None of the Evelyn buildings began construction, and the development went into receivership March 15 of this year.
Millenium Evelyn Properties is carrying more than $151 million in debt, of which about $126 million is owed to bcIMC Construction Fund Company, Peoples Trust Company, and Asia Trading.
Evelyn's parent company sank more than $23 million into the development, and other creditors ranging from lawyers to fence rental companies are holding slightly more than $1 million in unpaid bills.
Seeking a new owner, Bowra contacted 85 different development companies, of which 34 showed some interest and 11 sat down for meetings.
Meanwhile, Asia Trading, which holds three of the five mortgages on the property totaling about $47 million, started talks with Onni.
The proposal they put together would see Asia Trading stay involved with the development. Peoples Trust and bcIMC would see their mortgages repaid and replaced with a $66 million loan. Onni will also produce the $225,000 for the other creditors. Plan B is for the two companies to buy the project outright for $80 million.
"If the court deep-sixes this, the unsecured creditors get nothing," said Mario Mainella, vice-president of Bowra Group, the court-appointed receiver. "So we don't anticipate that. But if at any point this proposal doesn't happen, there's an alternative transaction where they basically buy it for $80 million and that's it; they take it over."
The zoning requirements of the site were a recurring obstacle to Bowra's attempts to find a buyer. If Onni and Asia Trading essentially take over Evelyn, they are under no obligation to proceed with the existing building plans, although attempting to enlarge the structures beyond the existing zoning would require a lengthy public process.
Millenium has stated that the time spent on the original rezoning process contributed to their financial woes.
Calls to Onni were not returned by press deadline.
