Aging Granville Island needs up to $300M in upgrades. Is housing a solution?
It's been 45 years since the area became an arts and tourism hub, but lacks funding mechanism for needed fixes
There's nothing in Metro Vancouver like Granville Island — but that's part of the problem in making changes to keep it financially viable.
"We're kind of stuck in where we can get money from," said Granville Island general manager Tom Lancaster.
He estimates up to $300 million is required for all the infrastructure upgrades needed for the popular arts and tourism hub, which has remained relatively unchanged since it was transformed in the late 1970s.
"We are approaching a financial situation now where change has to happen," said Lancaster, citing buildings that were either shuttered or facing a significant need for structural upgrades, including the roof of the famed public market.
"The problems can be pushed into the future over and over until it's no longer really that desirable. We're not there yet, but we're close."
This week, the island held an event to discuss its future, with a panel discussion and a video produced by popular urbanist and columnist Uytae Lee that accumulated nearly 200,000 views in its first three days.
The video ended with a plug for a survey by the island, which asks people about a potential "Granville Island Foundation" charity that would allow them to raise money from interested donors.
Lancaster hopes that by sounding the alarm, Granville Island can help bring the public and stakeholders together to create a new era for the peninsula.
"If people in Vancouver want to see a revitalized Granville Island, something that inspires them the way that it did in the 1980s and 1990s, that's the change that we need. That's the investment we need."
Complicated governance structure
But that investment has historically proved difficult because of the peculiar governance structure of the island.
While it's right in the middle of Vancouver, the modern history of Granville Island began in the late 1970s, when city council agreed to the federal government's development proposal, which would convert the decaying industrial land into the eclectic mix of spaces that remains in place today.
But while the land is owned by Ottawa, it has been managed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in a hands-off fashion, with the requirement that it pays for its own maintenance and expenses.
The plus side is Granville Island has been immune to market forces or politicization for 40 years, while maintaining rental subsidies for artists and a focus on independent and local businesses.
The downside is a lack of capital available for major projects, and no level of government historically accountable to the public for changes.
"Our hands are tied a little bit because of the governance … the model seems to have either stalled or is just simply not working today," said Vancouver Coun. Mike Klassen, who called the island "a gem" and agreed with Lancaster that a revitalization is needed.
"The corroding buildings, the infrastructure that's been there for decades — it doesn't represent the city well. And I think that if we want to get serious about it, we're going to have to make those investments."
'Build housing' proposal gets booed
As for where that money comes from?
A person who voted in favour of the original plans for the island has a bold — if controversial — idea.
"Let's put housing in," said Mike Harcourt.
The former mayor of Vancouver and premier of B.C. argues that higher levels of government aren't willing to provide money to projects these days without creating more housing units. And he says that one of the island's many parking lots or decaying buildings could be better used for a few mid-size apartment buildings that could market units and designated spaces for artists.
When he put the idea to the audience at last week's event, he was roundly booed.
"I don't mind being booed … now that I don't have to worry about votes anymore. I just tell it like it is," said Harcourt.
"If people have suggestions of how [to solve this] other than writing a check for $500 million, or let the private market come along and the whole place as a commercial venture, I think mine is the reasonable third option."
Lancaster didn't want to rule the idea out, saying "at this point in history, we have to really look at everything," but acknowledged that for many people, the idea of change for Granville Island is difficult.
"Not everybody agrees on what to do, because Granville Island is a little bit of something for everybody," he said.
"People want things to change, but they want it to stay the same. And so in managing change, we really need to tell the story and bring everybody to the table."
It was a statement seconded by CMHC, which said "there are no current plans for housing development," while adding "we are keenly interested in engaging [with stakeholders] to understand how Granville Island should best evolve and change."
Granville Island has had a good run so far, said Harcourt, but now it needs to be rethought.
"It's like, 'let's find another Stanley Park' ... it's so vitally important to the city, and you're not going to find another location as good as this."
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