Owners of Vancouver building hit by four fires list empty lot for $20M

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The owners of a Mount Pleasant property, which had been plagued by neglect and was hit by four fires in the past year, have put it on the market.

The 18,000-square-foot, now-vacant, site is listed for $20 million, with the listing touting its redevelopment potential under the city’s high-density Broadway plan.

“It’s had a storied history that’s been well documented. It’s been a nightmare. My job is to sell the property,” said Mark Goodman, principal at Goodman Commercial Inc., which launched the listing on Monday.

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The property, at 414 East 10th, was last sold in 2002 for $2.3 million. As of July 31, 2024, the land and building was assessed at just over $8 million. This was a $5.5 million drop in assessed value from the year before, due to fire having mostly destroyed the building.

Goodman focused on the attributes of the property at 414 East 10th, which is near bus stops on Main Street and Kingsway and will be close to SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant and Great Northern Way-Emily Carr stations.

The listing describes the opportunity as a rare one “to acquire an unheard-of vacant Broadway plan site with 150 feet of frontage.”

Goodman said an empty site in this location is unique and that, for a new buyer who wants to develop it, not having to deal with existing tenants will shorten the timeline.

“I would suggest that not having to deal with the tenant relocation program certainly reduces a cumbersome part of the development process and with that removed as part of the equation, there is an efficient path for a developer.”

The site is designated for rezoning for towers up to 20 storeys, either as rental apartments with 20 per cent of residential floor space at below-market rents or condos with 20 per cent of residential floor space delivered to the City as social housing. The maximum height and density can be increased by providing retail or service uses or child care.

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In July 2023, a fire that required the response of more than 70 firefighters significantly damaged the three-storey apartment at 414 East 10th and displaced more than 70 people.

Residents spoke out about how unsafe the building was before it burned down and how they called the city many times.

Eight months prior, the City of Vancouver had accused the landlords of 20 fire safety violations, alleging the owners failed to maintain sprinkler systems, fire extinguishers, fire doors and fire alarms in the building’s public areas, including the parkade, lobby and hallways.

B.C. provincial court documents showed the city accusing the owners, listed as Fu Ren and Feng Yan, of allowing hazards in the form of a “ripped out power outlet with exposed wires” on the second floor and accumulated “combustible materials” including wood, plastics and other items stored in the electrical room and the parkade. The landlords were also accused of blocking a fire exit floor with a plastic pipe, which was not allowed in the original building design.

The owners were fined $750.

In 2021, they were fined $500 after being accused of nine fire code violations and pleading guilty to four counts of failing to keep fire exits accessible.

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After the July 2023 fire, the owners were ordered to board up all access points to the empty building, provide 24-hour security for exterior fire watch, and to remove or reduce any hazard or risk of fire, explosion or danger to life or property.

A few months later, in September, there was another fire, believed to have been started by squatters who entered the boarded-up apartment.

A week later, a third fire happened in the vacant building.

In August of this year, the building was again hit by a fire and the City of Vancouver had it demolished to prevent future fires. The city said that the owners did not properly maintain or monitor the building.

jlee-young@postmedia.com

With files from Dan Fumano, Gordon Hoekstra and Tiffany Crawford

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