Photo: Glacier Media

The City of Vancouver announced Friday that it now owns the Balmoral and Regent hotels in the Downtown Eastside.

The City of Vancouver announced Friday that it now owns the notorious Balmoral and Regent single-room-occupancy hotels in the Downtown Eastside after reaching a settlement with the landlords.

Terms of the settlement, including value of the deal, weren’t released.

But the city said in a news release the deal with the Sahota family will now see BC Housing turn the hotels, which have a combined total of about 300 rooms, into “safe and secure low-income housing.”

“Bringing the Regent and Balmoral into public ownership marks a hopeful new beginning for residents of the Downtown Eastside and something all residents should be proud of,” said Mayor Kennedy Stewart in the release. “Downtown Eastside residents will be at the centre of creating a new vision for these two sites, and indeed the entire community.”

City council approved expropriation of the buildings in November 2019 in an attempt to bring the hotels into public ownership and convert them into social housing. The Sahota family then filed for a judicial review of the city’s expropriation.

The owners withdrew their application for review as part of the settlement.

The city has since completed the expropriation process by making advance payments and filing the vesting notices in the land title office, making the city the registered owner of the Balmoral and Regent.

“The decision to settle with the property owners was made by the city to mitigate the financial risk posed by the upcoming judicial review and potential claims for greater compensation, and to enable staff to begin planning for community engagement on the future of the properties,” the release said.

The Balmoral has been vacant since June 2017 and the Regent since June 2018. Both hotels have at least 150 rooms. The city closed both buildings because they were deemed unsafe to occupy.

At the time, the city cited engineering reports detailing fire hazards, rotting wood, sagging floors, water damage and mould inside the Balmoral. Similar problems were raised by the city in its decision to close the Regent.

The city worked with BC Housing and non-profit housing operators to find temporary and permanent homes for the tenants, including moving some into the provincial government-owned Jubilee Rooms around the block on Main Street.

The Regent and Balmoral have made the city’s top-10 list of problem hotels for almost 20 years and have been cited by police in numerous reports for drug activity, violence and other crimes.

Glacier Media reported in April 2018 that police responded to 845 calls in and outside the Regent between Jan. 1, 2017 and Feb. 22, 2018; the Balmoral generated 248 calls for the same period, although it was closed in June 2017.

The city promised Friday “a robust engagement process” next year “that ensures low-income residents can and do participate in the visioning of these sites." City staff aim to report back to council on next steps and timeline for the revitalization of the hotels in early 2021.