BURST
A Vancouver realtor is asking $2 million for a large, oddly shaped tree-lined lot in South False Creek that has an assessed value of $1,500 and is earmarked as public open space.
According to B.C. Assessment Authority records, the 16,500-sq.-ft. lot at 500 Starboard Square has been valued at just $1,500 for the past five years.
Real estate consultant Michael Geller, who worked on the original development of South False Creek, said that under the 1983 False Creek Area plan, the Starboard Square lot for sale has been set aside for public space and cannot be developed.
Geller said the lot was listed for sale last summer at the same asking price, but was delisted. It was re-listed on July 28.
Land title records show the property is owned by Son Nhu Khau and was purchased on March 12, 2003, for $7,081.
“Opportunity is knocking on the door,” realtor Joseph Liang’s listing begins. “Rarely available 16,000+SF of freehold property in the well-sought after False Creek neighbourhood.”
The listing states that the site’s property taxes were $16 in 2024. It says the lot is in the False Creek comprehensive development district. It also says it is within a transit-oriented area, as a result of a recent B.C. law that specifies increased densification and transit-oriented upzoning.
The listing states that any buyer should contact the City of Vancouver’s planning department “for development potentials.”
Sarah Pawliuk has lived in the co-op adjacent to the lot since 2018 and said residents were surprised when Liang’s real estate sign was erected last summer.
“There was a lot of joking about the $2 million price tag,” said Pawliuk, who was playing with her three children on the lot one morning this week. “Who would buy that? It has restrictive covenants on it and you can’t block fire access.”
The triangular-shaped lot has two laneways and is used as common space for residents in the co-op, social housing and strata buildings that surround it. There are children’s toys and play structures set up on the lot, which is adjacent to the Metro Vancouver-owned Strathearn Court family rental housing project.
Pawliuk said the lot owner visits every so often and is a “talkative, friendly guy.”
“He really believes it can be developed,” she said.
The City of Vancouver’s 87-page False Creek official development plan states the area occupied by 500 Starboard Square is “public open space.”
B.C. Assessment Authority spokesperson Bryan Murao said he could not reveal exactly why the lot was assessed at such a low value.
“I can say that B.C. Assessment generally has to consider governmental restrictions in its determination of the highest and best use of land,” Murao said. “This would cover restrictions like registered easements, statutory rights of way and restrictive covenants.
“Depending on the extent of such restrictions, the development potential of a property can be limited, which would have an impact on its market value.”
The registered sale document from 2003 shows the lot was sold conditionally to Khau on Nov. 14, 2001, because the previous owner did not pay their property taxes. The sale document states the owner of the lot when it was sold to Khau was Polygon Ventures Ltd.
Polygon Ventures is no longer a registered company but listed one of its directors as Vancouver developer Michael Audain.
A spokesperson for Audain’s Polygon Realty Ltd. said this week nobody in the office had knowledge of the transaction and that Audain was out of town and unable to comment.
Geller said the lot and surrounding area was part of the proposed Johnston Terminals redevelopment that went into receivership in the mid-1980s .
“Polygon subsequently purchased the properties from the receiver and I suspect that they may well have purchased the parcels at certain prices and then obtained approval for a density transfer, etc., which resulted in this particular site being designated public open space.”
Liang and his managing broker Layla Yang from Dracco Pacific Realty did not respond to requests for comment.