Fore! profit
A review of Vancouver’s municipal golf course operations is being welcomed by the head of B.C.’s golf association, which expects the review to confirm the courses’ value to the city.
Vancouver Park Board commissioners approved a motion by Aaron Jasper, the board’s vice-chairman, to look at use and revenue for the three golf courses run by the city: McCleery, Langara and Fraserview.
The three 18-hole courses and three pitch and putts last year generated a net profit of $1.1 million for the city from $9.2 million in revenue. Staff estimate that Langara and McCleery each net about $275,000 to $300,000 while Fraserview is more lucrative at about $400,000.
Jasper would like to see if there are opportunities to boost those numbers or other ways to make better use of the courses.
“We don’t know how we can improve what we don’t know needs improving,” he said last week. “In the long-term do we need three 18-hole courses? What are the trends? ... We can’t have a good discussion before we have the facts.”
Kris Jonasson, executive director of the association British Columbia Golf, is optimistic.
“I think when they do that I’m pretty confident the numbers will tell them it’s a great investment on their part,” he said.
With Shaughnessy, a private course, likely to close when its lease with the Musqueam Indian Band expires in 2032, Jonasson sees an upside to the city staying in the golf business.
“I think it’s unrealistic that there will ever be another golf course built in the city itself simply because the price of land dictates that it can’t be done any more,” he said. “You could never put together the type of acreage you would need.”
Golf courses have also become money-makers for the city in the past five years, providing an affordable alternative to private clubs. While the city’s three golf courses lost $2.7 million in 2007, they now turn a profit of close to $1 million. Meanwhile, profits for pitch and putts have steadily fallen. They returned just $77,551 to city coffers in 2011.
Standing tall
A mere five years ago, the elite agents of Sotheby’s International Realty landed in Vancouver to preview the Private Residences at the Hotel Georgia. Bruce Langereis, president and CEO of developer Delta Land Development Ltd., hosted the delegation at his home in Coal Harbour and the Vancouver way of life was impressed upon the visitors.
Property agents were again invited for a preview of the units last week, but this time the units themselves were on show. The residential portion of the 48-storey tower will be completed later this year, and Langereis was proudly showing off some of the finished units. A steady sales effort has sold 106 units since the project launched, and Langereis is confident the finished units will find a ready market. The biggest challenge Langereis foresees is the HST, which is set to disappear at the end of March 2013. To encourage sales, he’s offering to relieve buyers of the burden now rather than have them put off a purchase till next April.
“We’ll give you that discount now,” he told real estate agents touring the suites.
Done deals?
Columnists have lives, too, and what’s said on the street is often a counterpoint to business talk.
Stepping into the elevator one morning last week, for example, a neighbour began grousing about the 19-storey tower Rize Alliance Properties Ltd. plans at Kingsway and East 10th Avenue.
It’s all a done deal because the developer paid off the city, he said, though no one will ever admit to it because that’s just how things are done. (Oh! Such confidence in our civic leaders!)
Rize vice-president Chris Vollan told the Vancouver Real Estate Forum earlier this year that developers need to do a better job combating misinformation among the public, but in the meantime he’s spending the summer working on a development permit that reflects both public concerns expressed during the rezoning process and conditions laid on the project by city council.
In another encounter, a reader who spotted this columnist at the foot of Bayswater Street in Kitsilano asked if some research was being done on the proposed seawall extension from Kitsilano Beach to Jericho. (No, just trying to enjoy the sun, thanks.)
A notice of motion was entered by park board commissioners last week regarding the seawall’s extension. Wording of the motion is expected this week.
With people gingerly stepping across seaweed at the foot of the Bayswater steps, it was clear that a seawall would make the walk more pleasant – but also be inundated during peak tides and storm surges.
While the idea might ride a wave of public enthusiasm, experience with other planning projects – from the Rize tower to bike lanes and viaducts – suggests that city hall would do well to pay close attention to what local residents and users of the beach say before proceeding. •
