Yellowknife city council approves $1 sale of 50/50 lot to Holloway Lodging Corp.

Yellowknife is forging ahead with plans to sell a vacant downtown parking lot to a real estate company for only a dollar. 

Holloway Lodging Corp. wants ownership of the city's 50/50 lot, named for its location on 50th Street and 50th Ave. They have initial plans to build a 12- to 13-storey building on the land, with at least 180 new housing units and retail space on the ground floor. 

In a city council meeting Monday night, councillors voted unanimously in favour of a motion allowing the lot to essentially be given away to Holloway, under the condition that some units be used for affordable housing. 

"Beyond the need for affordable housing, we also need housing, period," said Mayor Rebecca Alty. 

"We have businesses right now who can't get employees because there's nowhere to live, and this is going to add much needed housing in the city."

The deal is not done, but council's approval allows city administrators to continue negotiating the $1 agreement with Holloway, or any other potential buyers. 

Three other vacant parking lots, located next to the Raven Pub, were also included in the motion — meaning they could also be sold for as little as $1.

The city first purchased the 50/50 lot for $1.45 million in 2014, but their plans of building a park or plaza on the land never materialized. 

They have been requesting proposals for the lot since 2019, and Holloway is the only developer to have expressed interest. 

Holloway already owns half of the city's Centre Square Mall but has been a subsidiary of Halifax-based investment firm Clarke Inc since 2019. 

Clarke is a publicly-traded company with assets worth $380 million, according to its most recent quarterly report. Clarke bought Holloway three years ago in a deal valued at about $265 million.

Clarke's assets include two downtown Whitehorse hotels — the Days Inn and the Sternwheeler Hotel and Conference Centre, which just reopened after an extensive renovation. Four months ago, Clarke bought the 206-room Stanford Inn and Suites in Grande Prairie for $11.6 million. 

Councillors still have some concerns 

As in previous city council meeting, Coun. Steve Payne asked if Holloway was willing to submit a deposit. The payment would be returned at "specific milestones" but would be intended to ensure the project's completion. 

Holloway has yet to submit a proposal detailing their plans for the land, and Coun. Julian Morse repeated his concerns about the project's lack of detail. 

"It does seem to me like there's concerns about what this project might be because we have no idea. We haven't seen it," said Morse. 

Coun. Robin Williams had similar worries. "It looks like in broad strokes, they're speaking the right language, but we're still yet to see anything specific at all," he said. 

Williams also questioned whether the current council should be making the decision, given most current councillors aren't running for re-election. 

"There's a part of me that thinks it's a little unfair that we have a new council coming in a month's time, and here we are giving away the gem of downtown," said Williams. 

Coun. Shauna Morgan said there was a need for the agreement to have "minimum expectations or boundaries," so that Holloway isn't able to "pull a fast one" on them.

She asked that Holloway be required to build a minimum number of housing units, and that the legal agreement would allow the city "to push back" if the project failed to meet the city's revitalization vision. 

But Kerry Thistle, the city's director of economic development and strategy, said it was premature to include a minimum number of housing units, as negotiations with Holloway have not been detailed enough. 

Alty agreed with Thistle, saying that Holloway would be held to more specific requirements after submitting a proposal. 

"If their [request for proposal] is successful and it's been selected, that's when the legal agreements happen," said Alty. "They will be held to the proposal that they put forward."

Thistle also said that Holloway was willing "to have discussions" about a deposit.

'Faith' in the project 

Councillors Stacie Smith and Robin Williams said they understood why there were concerns about the project. 

But they also noted that the city has not made any progress on developing the land since purchasing it back in 2014. 

"Nothing has happened in the downtown core," said Williams. "Extreme situations, I guess, call for some extreme measures and maybe a bit of faith on our side." 

Smith also said that faith was needed for the project's success. 

"I think we have to put a little bit of faith in this company that has already invested within Yellowknife," said Smith. "And put a little faith in administration and let them do their portion of it." 

Morgan was hopeful about the project's success, but said that they shouldn't be relying on "faith" or the developer's "goodwill" to see the project through to its completion. 

She emphasized that the city's agreements and processes with Holloway should have as many "legally enforcing or binding parameters" as possible. 

"This is not about faith," said Morgan. "I know this has been a long time coming. I know we all want this, but we still need to think of this as a business deal."