The third time was the charm for the developer of an Ospika Boulevard property.
After two previous attempts to convince Prince George city council to amend a restrictive covenant on 4500 Ospika Boulevard to allow for a 118-unit seniors housing building to be built instead of a 256-unit student housing building, Praxis Solutions and HUB Collective finally succeeded at the Monday, Jan. 13 council meeting.
Councillors voted unanimously to allow for seniors housing on the site.
Almost five years ago, the city sold the property to the developer to build student housing there. However, HUB Collective later said that idea was no longer financially viable.
Coun. Cori Ramsay said she had received correspondence as a University of Northern BC alumna discussing the school’s intent to expand student housing on campus. Because of those plans, she said, she was approving the application.
Coun. Tim Bennett said he still supports the application, with the land already having been cleared and ready for development.
Coun. Ron Polillo said while he was against the application last time, the developer worked to revise its design since then and spoke with several local organizations who indicated general support for the development.
He also cited the federal government’s recent reduction in the number of international students allowed into the country since the initial application
Coun. Brian Skakun said he was one of several councillors who attended an open house last year. He praised the developer’s work to update the idea and voiced his support.
Coun. Kyle Sampson said he was in favour to advance work on a site that has sat only partially developed for years. However, he said he would like road access to the site to be improved and said he was disappointed to not see that factor addressed. Another disappointment for Sampson was a lack of commercial space on the site.
Coun. Trudy Klassen, serving as acting mayor, said she was supportive as well.
It’s been a long few years for the property.
In July 2020, the city sold the property to The HUB Collection for $500,000, below the then-assessed value of $682,000. The below-market price was agreed upon under the condition that the developer build a 256-unit student housing facility within the next 24 months or Prince George would have the right to buy it back.
In 2022, BC Assessment hiked its value for the property to $3.127 million though it has since receded back to $700,000 in 2025. HUB argued in a 2023 media release that the original price was negotiated on Oct. 21, 2019 and at that time, it only had access to the 2018 tax assessment of $435,000.
At the Feb. 6, 2023 city council meeting, councillors rejected a proposal from the developer to amend a restrictive covenant to allow for a 118-unit seniors housing facility to be built in place of the originally-proposed student housing.
During that meeting, director of planning and development Deanna Wasnik told council that she had already approved changes to the covenant.
Later that year, The Citizen discovered through documents obtained through a freedom of information request that Wasnik agreed on Oct. 12, 2021 to amend the covenant so that instead of having to complete the framing of the proposed student housing development within 24 months, the developer only had to pour its foundation.
Also discovered by The Citizen was that concrete footings had been poured on the site in April 2022, but constructions had stopped within the next month. More obtained documents showed that Wasnik signed a document on May 3, 2022 discharging the city’s right to repurchase the land for $485,000.
A few days after the Feb. 6 meeting, community group Ginter’s Green Forever raised questions about whether the city’s sale of the property violated the BC Community Charter, which prevents local government from giving “a grant, benefit, advantage or other form of assistance to a business” without giving public notice that it intended to do so
Then, on Feb. 17, 2023, the city issued a statement saying an internal review it had conducted revealed the previous administration had indeed failed to follow the community charter.
“Upon discovering the administrative oversight, the City took immediate remedial action, including undergoing a restructuring and rebuilding of the city’s real estate division to better support the Administration’s continued dedication to its public responsibilities under all provincial legislation and its intention to provide fully transparent and accountable processes,” the statement said.
In April of that same year, The HUB Collection argued to council that it was “completely uneconomical” to build the original student housing project in a post-COVID and war in Ukraine world, but once again failed to convince council to amend the covenant.
The next month, council voted 5-4 against changing the covenant.
Heading into Monday's meeting, Praxis Solution was applying on HUB’s behalf in another attempt to amend the covenant to allow for the seniors housing.
A letter of intent attached to the meeting agenda from Praxis said it had held an open house on Oct. 9, 2024 “to gather community input and ensure transparency around the project’s design and objectives.”
Invitees to the open house, they said, included the Prince George Council of Seniors, the Elder Citizens Recreation Association and Ginters Green. The open house’s 11 attendees included three unnamed city councillors and Mayor Simon Yu.
Since previous attempts to have the project approved, Praxis said it had made several changes to the project design. That includes the addition of soil cells to manage stormwater, to reforest the northern property line, considering the future addition of more accessibility features as well as more parking spots.
The letter references the city’s 2021 housing needs report, which discusses the need for seniors’ housing.
City administration was recommending that council approve the change to the covenant, saying it was consistent with Prince George’s Official Community Plan, that it represents the redevelopment of existing vacant and underutilized sites as well as the housing needs report.
With files from Arthur Williams
