The philanthropic foundation behind Vancouver’s largest hospital has purchased an apartment building and long-term care centre in the city, planning to eventually expand the medical centre to the sites.
The VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation acquired a pair of adjacent properties, the 14-storey, 207-bed Windermere Care Centre, at 900 W. 12th Ave., and the 26-unit Demarco Manor apartments at 990 W. 12th Ave., for a total of $100 million in a sale that closed March 29. The sellers were Dan McDonald and Margaret Marchioli, according to a statement from the foundation.
In its statement, the foundation, named for Vancouver General Hospital and the University of British Columbia, described plans to continue operating both the apartment building and the long-term care facility, with the proceeds going to support the work of the foundation. The long-term goal is to expand the hospital campus onto the site.
Angela Chapman, CEO of the foundation, said Tuesday that the progress of the city's Broadway Plan also played into the group's decision, spurring the group to protect especially the care center, which is directly across the street from the Vancouver General Hospital campus and is used by patients transitioning out of the larger facility.
Part of a city land-use planning process begun in 2019, the final draft of the Broadway Plan was released by city planners March 1. The plan includes provisions for higher density and taller building heights throughout the area around the hospital.
“The risk, of course, of a private buyer buying that building is they could buy it for it’s property value, and then eventually losing those beds," Chapman said.
The group had already been exploring how to expand the hospital, and by purchasing the facility, Chapman said, it effectively protected the sites from redevelopment while also guaranteeing the hospital room to expand.
Developers have already begun moving forward on deals in the area subject to the plan, on the assumption that density allowances described in the draft will be retained in the final version.
Profits from the apartment complex will serve as a funding source for the foundation and be reinvested in the hospital while plans to redevelop the site for hospital research and office facilities are finalized. Chapman, who added that the long-term care capacity will be preserved in any redevelopment, said she expects that process to take a minimum of five years.
In the meantime, the care facility will be managed by the Vancouver Coastal Health authority, while the foundation has hired a private property manager to operate the apartment building, according to the group's statement.
A specific cost breakdown was not given in sale documents filed with the province, but units in multifamily buildings in the immediate area have traded for an average of $670,600 per unit over the past 12 months, with the total volume of sales in the area reaching $200.4 million in the past 12 months, up from $148.7 million in the prior period.
