Landa Global has agreed to acquire a fully approved Burnaby, B.C., condominium development project through a court sale for $12 million.

The partially constructed, five-storey mixed-use development is located at 4451 Hastings Street, near Willingdon Avenue, in the Heights district, a prominent north Burnaby multi-residential and retail node. Local firm I4 Property Group was the original developer before the project, known as Siena, was petitioned into receivership by lender Desjardins in February.

Landa’s bid was the highest among the three that were formally submitted, said Deloitte Restructuring, the court-appointed receiver, in a report on the sale. Goodman Commercial brokered the deal on behalf of Deloitte with the court’s approval.

The asking price was $16 million.

“I think it just reinforces that area’s going through a positive change,” said Mark Goodman, the brokerage firm’s founder and principal. “If you go up and down Hastings, you’ll see that there’s many of these mixed-use projects rejuvenating the area.

“As a result of this, we’re getting some more business, so we’ll be listing some other sites in the next few weeks along the same corridor. It’s a really nice neighbourhood actually. It’s quaint.”

The project has stalled since 2023 due to I4’s financial difficulties and a dispute between the developer and Kerkoff Construction, the project’s builder, which placed liens on the project due to unpaid bills.

The transaction comprised a share sale and reverse vesting order whereby a Landa subsidiary paid a nominal $1 fee for the stock with the balance of the $12 million used to buy related assets. The reverse vesting order spared Landa from paying a $480,000 provincial property-transfer taxed and kept all of the municipal approvals in place, said Deloitte.

According to Deloitte, 27 residential units and all six commercial condos were under presale contracts, but the proposed purchase does not include those deals and 29 of them have been terminated.

“The receiver’s counsel undertook a preliminary review of the presale contracts and concluded that there would be substantial challenges in enforcing both the commercial and residential unit contracts due to specific termination clauses that had already been extended to, or close to, their contractual limits,” Deloitte reported.

A number of would-be unit buyers asked Deloitte to return their deposits.

A total of 28 interested project buyers signed confidentiality agreements, but only three made formal offers.

“I was taken back at the amount of activity because there was a number of confidentiality agreements signed, but there was probably three times as much interest, just from calls and emails, and it was a very high-profile deal,” Mark Goodman, the brokerage firm’s founder, told Connect in an interview.

Situated on a 17,222-square-foot site, the project has been fully rezoned and permitted for a 52,753-square-foot building. Plans include 38 residential strata homes above six commercial-condo units, all set atop a two-level underground parkade offering 71 parking stalls.

“There was a [development permit], and the risk that you would face during the entitlement process was gone,” said Mark Goodman. “Now, it’s just a matter of building it.”

Excavation and shoring are complete and the parkade structure is in progress. 

“It’s not the easiest deal; it’s complicated,” said Mark Goodman. “There’s a lot of unknowns. I went to the site three times with various consultants to look at the excavation and the shoring and how much work would be needed to continue where [the previous developer and builder] left off.

“It was actually a really interesting experience, because I was standing in the pit with all these different engineers and consultants trying to figure out the costs associated with taking over the project.”

Goodman Commercial is slated to receive a 0.85% commission based on the gross sale proceeds because Desjardins introduced Landa to the project.

Broker Megan Johal co-ordinated the sale listing for Goodman Commercial.

Pictured: Future condominium development in the Heights district in north Burnaby.

Rendering: Courtesy of Goodman Commercial