BC Business
Welcome to the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation's latest community housing project: Bob & Michael's Place
The list of people who played a role in making Bob & Michael’s Place a reality is so extraordinarily long that Carol Lee can hardly begin to name names.
“It’s kind of a miracle we got it done,” says the chair of the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation.
The daughter of the late Robert Lee—the philanthropist, real estate entrepreneur and former chancellor of UBC—has business in her blood. The younger Lee co-founded cosmetics company Linacare Cosmetherapy with Henry Fung in 2002 before moving on to incorporate VCF a decade later.
Chinatown, one of Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhoods, was “on the downhill slide,” she says. In trying to figure out how to revitalize a place where some of her best childhood memories inextricably reside, Lee had her first meeting for a social housing project at 58 West Hastings Street back in 2011.
“[The site] is not technically in Chinatown, but because we’re the VCF for community revitalization, we thought, ‘We need to help our neighbour first.’ It was going to be hard to help revitalize Chinatown if our neighbour was also struggling. We were tiny, and it was a pretty tall order: I had to go and raise $30 million for 231 units of social housing,” she says.
What unfolded over the next 12 years was a symphony of collaboration: architects, builders, developers, philanthropists, nonprofits, three tiers of government, sports teams and many, many other organizations stepped forward to support the VCF’s mission to provide much-needed affordable housing in the city. Of the 231 units at Bob & Michael’s Place, more than half are set at welfare rates. The rest are being offered at Housing Income Limit (HIL) rental rates, which are also below-market.
The City of Vancouver donated the land for 58 West Hastings through a 99-year lease, while the provincial and federal governments contributed over $51 million through BC Housing and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The CMHC also loaned the VCF an additional $27 million for the project.
Michael Audain, the founder and chair of Polygon Homes, committed $5 million for it. He was good friends with Lee’s father, who committed $5 million as well. “Community building has always been a part of their work,” says the younger Lee. “Money was an essential component, but it’s not what made this project. This project was made because people care. And you can see it in every inch of that building.”
It’s true: at an open house on June 22, visitors (including elderly folks and single mothers) were seen touring the building with smiles on their faces. It was easy to spot Douglas Coupland art in the hallway, and many of the units (which range from studios to one- and two-bedroom suites) featured nice-to-haves like balconies, dens, dishwashers, kitchenware and furniture.
“It’s been really rewarding because right from the beginning, when we asked people, almost everybody said yes,” Lee notes. Axiom Builders, Bosa Development and W.T. Leung Architects all worked on the project, but none of them profited from it.
Moreover, to help the people who will be living here, around 45 companies agreed to donate services, including Deloitte (to assist with taxes), Dress for Success, the Vancouver Public Library, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Working Gear, the Vancouver Canucks, the Vancouver Symphony, the Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the BC Lions. “So people living in this building, on either the shelter side or the HIL side, will be able to go to Canucks games. We think that’s pretty exciting,” Lee adds.
Local artists gifted artwork; Parker Hotel Vancouver gave sheets, robes and towels; and the Vancouver Gardening Club not only donated money, its members also brought the big garden at Bob & Michael’s Place to life. They even offered to hold workshops and classes for residents on topics like container gardening.
“We’ve tried to layer as many pieces of the pie as far as community goes,” Lee says. “You can see how, if you have the right intention, lots of people want to come in and help. If we all do a little bit, it’s amazing what we can put together.”
A few facts about life at Bob & Michael’s Place:
The 10-storey building at 58 West Hastings Street includes a mix of micro, studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom suites.
1-bedroom, 1-bathroom suites: 507 sq.ft. $1,450/month
2-bedroom, 2-bathroom suites: 656 sq.ft. $1,800/month
The VCF’s Community Partnership Program connects tenants with organizations specializing in wellness, life skills, mentoring, sports, culture and entertainment.
Carol Lee’s mother, Lily Lee, donated $3.8 million for an integrated 50,000-square-foot health facility in the building. Vancouver Coastal Health will run the Lily Lee Community Health Centre Hastings, which will deliver primary care to the entire community.