BURST
After several hours of impassioned arguments both for and against a developer’s proposal for a two-tower project incorporating a hotel and a Filipino cultural centre, Vancouver city council decided Wednesday night to delay the decision until next month.
Every speaker agreed that the Filipino community, which is still grieving from the deadly tragedy at April’s Lapu Lapu Day event, deserves a facility of its own.
Most people spoke in support of the motion, introduced by ABC Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and Coun. Lenny Zhou, which would direct city staff to prioritize a hotel-and-cultural-centre proposal at two addresses on Main Street. Many argued this project seems like the best opportunity yet to finally see this long-held dream realized.
But other members of the public, including leaders of some local Filipino groups, strenuously objected to this specific project, a proposal from a developer fighting fraud allegations in civil court, seeking to develop a property currently in foreclosure proceedings with an alleged $45 million in outstanding debt on a site assessed at half that amount, with a cultural centre led by a non-profit society created three months ago.
Opponents raised questions about the developer, Tobi Reyes, his company, Port Living, and their financial and legal issues. The tone was, at times, heated. The chair of the meeting had to repeatedly caution speakers against impugning any politicians’ motives.
Sim and Zhou’s motion would direct staff to prioritize the cultural centre and hotel project at two sites in Mount Pleasant, 1940 Main St. and 143 East 3rd Ave., and explore changing policy to enable a taller tower than would normally be allowed for this “priority project with citywide benefits.”
The development would include space for a Filipino cultural centre, which is being led by the Filipino Legacy Society, a non-profit society incorporated in August.
The Main Street site, which Reyes has owned since 2017, is currently going through foreclosure proceedings, with the lender alleging this year in court filings that Reyes is in default on $45 million in outstanding debt — $17 million on the first mortgage, $7 million on a second mortgage and $21 million total interest — for a property with an assessed value of $23 million.
Reyes, the grandson of a billionaire construction magnate and real estate developer who was one of the wealthiest people in the Philippines, immigrated to Canada as a child and grew up in Vancouver. He has tried for many years to build a Filipino community centre at at least five different locations, and says the dream is deeply meaningful to him.
PortLiving was founded in 2003, and developed properties around Vancouver for several years before its financial troubles became public in 2020 when the company’s high-profile downtown condo tower project Terrace House entered bankruptcy protection partway through construction.
More than 100 other files in the B.C. Supreme Court civil registry name Reyes or his company. One of those is a continuing lawsuit, filed in 2023 by investors accusing Reyes of fraud and misappropriation of funds. Those allegations haven’t been tested in court.
Wednesday at city hall, Reyes told Postmedia News that he couldn’t comment on details of the foreclosure or the fraud lawsuit, but he was confident that both matters were close to being resolved.
On the foreclosure of 1940 Main, which is currently a tire shop, Reyes said he’s making plans to repay the lender and “we definitely see a path to resolution.”
Regarding the investors’ lawsuit, Reyes said the plaintiffs had asked him not to publicly speak about the matter, but “we’re going to be settling it mutually, soon.”
“We’ll deal with it behind closed doors,” Reyes said.
Reyes has been appearing in community events and forums recently, to answer people’s questions about the Filipino cultural centre project, he said: “We’ve been able to answer pretty much all the questions, and resoundingly, it’s more about people being very excited about what’s happening.
“We believe it’s a great location, it’s got great potential and promise to deliver what we can deliver.”
One prominent voice of support for Sim and Zhou’s motion on Wednesday came from Mable Elmore, the B.C. NDP MLA for Vancouver-Kensington and longtime Filipino community leader. Elmore said questions about the foreclosure of 1940 Main St. “are best addressed by Tobi Reyes.”
“As far as the community is concerned, there is broad and deep support to take further steps to work on the delivery of a future Filipino cultural centre,” Elmore said.
“The opportunity to realize a Filipino cultural centre is within reach given the convergence of support from the City of Vancouver and senior levels of government.”
Green Coun. Pete Fry proposed delaying decision on the motion until after the matter could be reviewed by the city’s integrity commissioner, citing concerns about the potential for conflict, transparency and influence.
Fry asked Sim if he was aware of the foreclosure proceedings involving the property.
Sim replied: “It’s my understanding that this stuff has been cleared up.”
Sim added that he has “had no dealings with the developer, personally,” and said that if the motion were to be approved, it would still need to go through a full review by city staff and a public hearing, and the same rigour as other development proposals.
But council didn’t vote on Fry’s amendment. Instead, ABC Coun. Lisa Dominato proposed to refer the matter to the council meeting on Dec. 10. to allow more time to review some of the concerns and questions raised during Wednesday’s meeting.
Sim told the council meeting that some of the implications made that day about the project’s proponents were “deeply unfair.”
But he supported referring the motion to the Dec. 10 meeting, “to give us some extra time to review the matter, due to the suggestions made here.”
“If that’s what it takes to keep the dream of a Filipino cultural centre alive, then that’s what I will do,” Sim said.
In an emailed statement Thursday, Sim said the urgency behind his motion is due to an internationally affiliated hotel brand’s interest in Reyes’ project, and the time-sensitive nature isn’t related to the court proceedings involving the property.
“We have been engaging directly with the Filipino Legacy Society, not the developer, on their project, which represents the vision they are advancing for their community. Any discussions between the Filipino Legacy Society and the developer are matters between those parties,” Sim said.
“For more than 40 years, the Filipino community has been calling for a cultural centre, and this motion simply creates a path for that long-standing vision to be considered. It does not make the final decision.”