Just as his previous home in Metrotown was being torn down, Don Gorman received notice that he and his wife Eleanor would have to move.
The couple had lived at 6579 Marlborough Ave. for 27 years when they were evicted just over a year ago. The rental apartment building was part of parcel of land being redeveloped for a highrise condo building.
“My wife and I are seniors,” he told the NOW. “We’re sick and tired of moving around. I was born here.”
The couple had to give up their pets when they moved into their new place, he added.
Last month, Gorman received a notice stating the Metrotown apartment building they’d moved into had been sold and would also be redeveloped in the next year or two.
“They said they wouldn’t be tearing it down and guess what? It’s going to be gone,” he said, adding they don’t know when they’ll have to move.
Gorman, who is in his late 70s, works nights as a security guard and says he and his wife can afford to move again.
But not everyone can, he pointed out.
“I’m sure there’s lots of people that are getting kicked out of their places to make way for high, expensive condominiums,” he said. “I’m sure it’s happening to more than just us.”
Gorman has since joined the Burnaby chapter of Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) Canada, whose members are from low and moderate-income families.
The Metrotown area is a particular problem, as many of the renters there currently cannot afford the new condos being built, Murray Martin, another Acorn member, said.
“At the meetings, a lot of the members are worried they’re not going to be living in Burnaby any longer,” he said.
The City of Burnaby is not doing enough to protect rental stock, he added.
Recently, Coun. Colleen Jordan told the NOW the city’s hands are often tied when it comes to rental housing.
“There is nothing the city has the authority to do that could stop an existing owner from redeveloping an existing building with a similar building under the existing zoning,” Jordan stated in an email. “Where the city does have authority, is when the owner applies for increased density under an existing community plan. Then council does have the final say.”
But Martin said the issue is with rezonings – lowrise rental apartment buildings that are wiped out when council approves developers’ plans to redevelop the sites.
Gorman’s apartment building on Marlborough Avenue was part of a rezoning application put forward by Polygon Development last winter, which also included 6611 Marlborough Ave., and 6592 and 6650 Dunblane Ave.
There were four low-rise apartment buildings on the site, all built in the early ’60s and in fair condition, according to a city staff report.
The land parcel is listed as sold on the London Pacific Property Agents Inc. website.
Ben Williams of London Pacific and RE/MAX Bill Goold Realty were the listing agents, and the parcel sold for $21.32 million, according to a brochure posted on Goold’s website.
“After working with city planning and arranging the tentative approval from the City of Burnaby to extend a high-density RM-5 zoning district to extend the length of this impressive site, Bill Goold and Ben Williams successfully assembled and sold our featured site with record-breaking results,” the brochure stated.
Williams and Goold were recently interviewed by Frank O’Brien for his Business In Vancouver article, Investors scoop old apartment blocks in land development rush.
The interview was about land speculators, led by mainland Chinese buyers, buying Burnaby rental apartment buildings and replacing them with highrise condominiums.
The listing agents did not reply to the NOW regarding the Marlborough and Dunblane property sale before press time.
