RISING FEARS OVER FUTURE OF BAKERY
Latest real estate tussle spurs bid to preserve beloved gathering spot
The northwest corner of 33rd Avenue and Mackenzie Street on Vancouver’s west side has tongues wagging in a city obsessed with real estate and a sense of belonging.
Ground zero is Bigsby the Bakehouse, set in the middle of an old, low-slung building with seven or eight storefronts dating back to the late 1930s.
For decades, one company owned this parcel of land on three lots.
Then, in January 2015, it was sold to a numbered company for $5.43 million and then flipped four months later to another numbered company for $6.40 million, or almost a $1-million gain.
The new owners, 1032682 B.C. Inc., hired Ian Egloff of Creekside Architects to come up with a proposal for a three-storey building with eight luxury condos, underground parking stalls and commercial space on the ground.
That’s when the talking started, which led to the formation of the MacKenzie Heights Community Association.
Deborah Henderson, who is on the association’s steering committee, said the group got busy writing hundreds of letters and emails, and getting other residents to do the same.
They also met with city planners.
“We invited (them) to listen to us and they talked to us about where things were at and what we could ask for,” she said.
Egloff said that when the developer held public consultations, one thing they heard was that people wanted smaller shops as opposed to larger spaces that would lend themselves to more big box/chain retailers.
As a result, Egloff came back with a revised proposal: Retail store spaces became smaller, at 16 feet wide, and some grade-level townhomes with no stairs were added so retirees could downsize from big houses and stay in their community.
However, Egloff said that “essentially, after two years of public consultation on a project that fit the City of Vancouver’s written guidelines of increasing the commercial area and modest increase of residential density for that area, (city staff earlier this year) stated they wanted a larger rental building on the site.”
City staff “suggested that they could not stop us from making the (rezoning) application, but that it would not be well received and would not have staff support if it ever did make it to council.”
The city told Postmedia that a rezoning application had not been submitted for this site, which had “been considered for a privately led redevelopment in recent years.”
At the heart of this matter, though, is Bigsby, what it means to the community, and fears business owners Earl Morris and his sister Ellen Morris have for its future.
The little bakery serves soup, sandwiches and salads and has become a neighbourhood institution with a loyal following even though it only opened six years ago.
“I’m not against adding density but if they bring in the density, it’s that process that will destroy the building,” said Morris, adding that in his situation, having to relocate his equipment, furnish a new place, pay wages for staff, and not work for an extended period, would make things unfeasible.
To understand the draw of Bigsby, consider that regulars like Samantha Banks book ahead, the way others make dinner reservations, to secure freshly baked loaves.
She said that aside from the bread itself, “the bakery feels like community as soon as you enter. It fills with regulars, neighbours, people introducing it to out-oftown guests as a café.”
On a recent afternoon, this feeling was on full display among a lively gaggle of customers sitting outside the bakery on wooden benches, eating lunch on slightly misshapen tables, one in the shape of an old ironing board.
“The owners (of Bigsby) put their hearts and souls into this place,” said Dunbar resident Cheryl Lee, taking a break from lunch with her sister-in-law.
She’d heard the City of Vancouver was studying ways to support so-called legacy businesses — either longtime or well-loved businesses — by looking at cities such as San Francisco.
Lee thinks that’s a great idea. For now, city hall seems to have responded and tacitly made this a unique situation in a city where there is a wider debate over how to add gentle density in leafier neighbourhoods like this and keep small businesses that might not survive moving to another location.
And while this seems like a shortterm win for the residents’ group and their beloved bakery, there are now fresh concerns the owner is hiking rents as leases come up for negotiation.
The rate increases being bandied about, of between 30 and 50 per cent, will be too high for Bigsby to pay when its lease ends in two years, said Morris.
The residents’ group thinks the tactic is one to clear out old businesses, making the building easier to sell.
The owners declined to be interviewed, but appointed their realestate agent, Lily Gan, to speak to Postmedia on their behalf.
Gan said they are kind of frustrated because they were expecting city hall to grant a certain floor-space ratio or level of allowable density based on what’s on the other corner where a similar site was redeveloped into town homes and one ground-floor business.
“It seemed to be doable,” said Gan. “My clients are still thinking of selling the property, but we are adjusting the price.”
The property was listed for sale at $12.88 million a few months ago, but was taken off the market a few weeks ago.
Gan said the owners are new to developing in Vancouver and there are three shareholders, one of whom lives in the neighbourhood.
“They went through extensive consultation with the community,” she said.
As for developing rental units as the architect has said the city suggested, Gan pointed out it would be a whole different set of financial implications.
“It’s more risky to develop rental rather than market units. It takes longer to reap your investment.”