A8
                                                 ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

                                           Date: March 28, 1996
                                           Dept. File No.  JF


   TO:       Vancouver City Council

   FROM:     Director of Land Use and Development

   SUBJECT:  Strata Title Conversion: 1010 Howe Street


   RECOMMENDATION

        THAT the application to convert the previously-occupied building at
        1010  Howe Street (Now  Strata Lots 1  to 9, D.L.  541, Strata Plan
        VR1297) to strata  title ownership  be approved  in principle,  but
        that  pursuant  to  Section  9(1)  of  the  Condominium   Act,  the
        Certificate  of Approval (Form 10)  shall not be  issued unless the
        following  condition has been  met within one  year of  the date of
        this approval:

             Completion  of   all  work  required  by   the  City  Building
             Inspector, under the required permits, at no cost to the City,
             and  issuance  of an  Occupancy  Permit,  in order  that  this
             previously-occupied building substantially  complies with  all
             relevant by-laws.

   GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

        The General  Manager of  Community Services RECOMMENDS  approval of
        the foregoing.

   COUNCIL POLICY

   Council Policy is reflected  in the City's Strata Title  and Cooperative
   Conversion Guidelines,  which outlines factors Council  will consider in
   reviewing applications for  converting previously-occupied buildings  to
   strata title or cooperative ownership.


   PURPOSE

   Council  approval  is  required  for  an   application  to  convert  the
   previously-occupied building at 1010  Howe Street (Now Strata Lots  1 to
   9, D.L. 541, Strata Plan VR1297) to strata title ownership.

   BACKGROUND

   The  site is  zoned DD  and is  developed  with a  12-storey, mixed-use,
   strata-titled building, currently  undergoing renovations  to provide  8
   retail units on the Ground  Floor, and 130 residential units on  the 2nd
   through  12th  Floors.   The  building,  originally  completed in  1983,
   previously  contained  offices  on  the  2nd  through  10th Floors  (all
   contained  within Strata Lot 1),  and residential units  on the 11th and
   12th  Floors (Strata  Lots 2-9).   All of  the existing  strata lots are
   owned by  one party.   Alterations to the  office floors to  convert the
   space into residential units, and to the Ground Floor to reconfigure the
   retail units, under Development Permit No. DE217412 and Building  Permit
   No. BU401124, are almost complete.

   The  new  residential and  retail units  are  proposed to  be individual
   strata  lots  and will  be accessed  by  corridors designated  as Common
   Property  on the strata  plan.  The  Condominium Act  does not, however,
   allow for  an amendment to the  existing strata plan in  order to create
   Common Property from  strata lots.   Therefore, the  owner must  proceed
   with  a "deemed destruction of  the building" to  extinguish the current
   strata  plan, and  subsequently file  a new  strata plan  containing the
   revised strata lot configurations.  In a  recent case, the Supreme Court
   of  B.C.  decided  that,  as  there is  a  moment  in  time  between the
   extinguishment and the deposit of the new plan where no strata plan will
   be in place, this process amounts to a "conversion into strata lots of a
   previously-occupied  building",   and  is   therefore  subject  to   the
   provisions  of Section  9  of the  Condominium  Act (i.e.,  approval  by
   Council as the approving authority).

   The commercial and residential  units in the building are  all presently
   vacant.  The tenants who had been occupying the residential units on the
   11th and 12th  Floors had been renting those spaces  based on fixed-term
   tenancy  agreements  and  vacated  their  units  as  per  their  tenancy
   agreements, as of November, 1995.  Therefore, according to the owner, no
   tenants will be affected by this strata conversion, if approved.

   The site location is shown below in Figure 1:

                                   Figure 1


























   STAFF ANALYSIS

   In addition to Planning Department staff, the City Engineer and the City
   Building  Inspector have reviewed this application.  Given the nature of
   the application, the Manager of the Housing Centre has not been asked to
   comment.

   The City Engineer has  no dedication or servicing requirements  for this
   site.

   The  City Building  Inspector  reports  that  when  all  work  currently
   underway  on the building has been completed in accordance with approved
   plans and permits, and an Occupancy Permit has been issued, the building
   will substantially comply with all relevant City by-laws.

   CONCLUSION

   Based  on  the foregoing,  and on  the  applicant's compliance  with the
   City's Strata Title and  Cooperative Conversion Guidelines, the Director
   of      Land      Use       and      Development      supports      this
   application.