Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Directors of the Housing Centre and Current Planning

SUBJECT: Pennsylvania Hotel - 412 Carrall St.

 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

Council interim policy for the DTES area includes:
· to maintain and upgrade housing for existing residents,
· improve existing SROs and build replacement low-income housing,
· encourage diversity of housing,
· reduce drug-related crime,
· encourage legitimate commercial activity, and
· improve conditions at the street level.

PURPOSE

This report seeks Council approval of a $500,000 grant to the Greater Vancouver Housing Corporation (GVHC) for the purchase and renovation of the Pennsylvania Hotel at 412 Carrall St. The location of the hotel at the southeast corner of Hastings and Carrall is shown in Figure 1.

PENNSYLVANIA HOTEL

The Pennsylvania Hotel (formerly the Portland Hotel, before that the Rainbow Hotel, and originally the Pennsylvania Hotel) is a 70 room SRO with a 165 seat Class A pub on the ground floor. From 1991 to 2000 the 70 rooms were operated by the Portland Hotel Society as the Portland Hotel. At the end of March 2000, the residents and operation were relocated to the New Portland Hotel at 20 W. Hastings. The rooms have remained vacant since while the pub has continued in operation. The Pennsylvania is located in Gastown's HA-2 district, and is a provincially designated heritage building.

The GVHC proposes to buy and renovate the Pennsylvania Hotel. The 70 rooms would be replaced with 40-50 small self-contained dwelling units, and the 165 seat pub would be closed. The half of the ground floor facing Hastings would be renovated for retail, and amenity and lobby area for the residents would occupy the other half. There is no elevator in the building now, and one will be installed as part of the renovations.

The Portland Hotel Society would operate the residential component on behalf of GVHC, as part of their supportive housing portfolio on Hastings St., which includes the New Portland, the Sunrise and Washington Hotels, and Regal Place. The Vancouver/Richmond Health Board presently funds the Portland Hotel Society to provide significant support services in the nearby New Portland, Regal Place, and the Sunrise and Washington Hotels. These existing services will be re-organized to ensure that low income singles from DTES SROs can be safely and appropriately accommodated in the Pennsylvania.

The cost of buying and renovating the Pennsylvania is estimated to be $4,578,000. Capital funding for the project will be provided as follows:

BC Housing will subsidize the mortgage and operating costs, estimated at $380,000 per year. BC Housing has committed funding for up to 51 units in the building, but the final number of units will probably be less to ensure units of sufficient size and livability.

The building is prominently located and has significant heritage value. It is a `B' building on the City's Heritage Register. The budget does not include funding for substantial upgrade, but is sufficient to preserve the building's heritage value and restore, to a limited extent, the ground floor. If, in the meantime, funding for heritage upgrade can be found from other sources then a higher level of upgrade can be considered, e.g. restoration of the turret that once graced the tower at the corner of Hastings and Carrall (see Figure 2).

Figure 2

The City's contribution of $500,000 will ensure that the 165 seat pub is closed. Originally the proposal was to lease the pub back to the owner, but for an additional cost of $400,000, the pub can be purchased and closed. Like the former pub at the Sunrise and several other hotels, the pub at the Pennsylvania has been a focus of drug-related crime. When the Portland Society took over management of the Sunrise Hotel at the corner of Columbia and Hastings in 1998, it closed that 190 seat pub and the police noticed an immediate reduction in problems at that corner.

In many cases it is not viable or in the public interest to acquire SROs. Most provide inadequate accommodation, and problems generated by them are best dealt with through enforcement, including closure if required. In the case of the Pennsylvania, which is located at a prominent corner in the area, with particular heritage merit, and on Hastings which is the focus of the City's revitalization efforts, the purchase and renovation of the building for self-contained units, in partnership with the Federal and Provincial governments, is supportable.

HOUSING AGREEMENT

It is recommended that a grant of $500,000 be made to the project in return for a Housing Agreement that will ensure that the building is renovated, the dwelling units house low income singles, the City has direct control over the use of the ground floor retail. The ground floor retail will be included in the revitalization program for Hastings. This is especially important because of the hotel's strategic location across from Pigeon Park and at the intersection with Carrall St., which links Maple Tree Square, the Chinese Cultural Centre, and the former CPR-Interurban Right-of-Way.

Funding for the City grant will be provided through the Capital Plan funding set aside for the DTES ($450,000) and from the Affordable Housing Fund ($50,000). The City contributed $500,000 to each of the Sunrise and Washington Hotels when they were purchased and renovated by BC Housing.

The grant would be paid to GVHC on completion of the renovations and on registration of a Housing Agreement that would:

and such other terms and conditions to the satisfaction of the Directors of Legal Services, Current Planning, and the Housing Centre.

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