Burnaby Heights residents can expect to be looking at a giant hole in the ground just off Hastings Street for a few more years after the failure of another development at the site.
Buyers got an email last month informing them Siena The Heights at 4451 Hastings St. was going into receivership after the developer, I4PG, was "unable to conclude satisfactory" financing arrangements.
"This is a very sad and disappointing outcome for everyone having an interest in the project, following several months of effort on our part to keep the project alive," stated the Jan. 16 message from I4PG president Myron Calof.
The development, directly across Hastings Street from the Heights Safeway was planned as a five-storey mixed-use development, with commercial space and 38 residential units.
Calof told the Burnaby NOW all of the commercial lots had been sold along with 28 of the residential units.
The developers had planned to complete the project in January, but it stalled before the all of the foundation work was complete.
"A considerable amount of foundation work has been done, but you have to look down and understand what you’re looking for," Calof told the NOW in a phone interview Wednesday.
Contaminated soil that was the subject of a lawsuit was also removed "a long time ago," he said.
According to the most recent assessment (July 1, 2024), the property is worth $12,269,000, $9,105,000 for the 0.4 acre of land and $3,164,000 for the buildings.
The receivership is set to take effect no later than Feb. 14, after which the property will be sold.
Calof expects another developer will purchase the property.
He said he thinks a finished project could be in place in three years.
"A lot of the hard part's been done," Calof said. "It's been rezoned; there's a development permit; there's building permit. The long process is over."
As for what went wrong with Siena, Calof wouldn't say.
"I really can't say anything more than I have," he said.
Siena wasn't the first condo project to be announced at the site.
Another developer, Empire Developments, owned the land before, and its four-storey "Venice" mixed-use development plan made it to second reading at city council and a public hearing in December 2008, but the project never materialized.
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