The former headquarters of the Vancouver Police Department on Main Street could become the home of a business development and technology centre operated by the Vancouver Economic Commission.
Though the commission and the city are still in talks about the feasibility of the centre, documents obtained by the Courier under the Freedom of Information Act show both parties have corresponded on the idea since August 2010.
The 267 pages of heavily redacted documents dont include a detailed plan of the commissions proposal, or whether the facility would be anchored by a business giant. Some of the pages, which are primarily emails, indicate retail businesses could be an option for the main floor.
If the centre is built, it will be costly.
Thats because the building has operated continuously as the VPDs headquarters since 1954 and deteriorated as the years progressed. From 2002 to 2008, the city spent more than $11 million in addition to normal operating costs to keep the building functional.
The buildings poor condition caused the VPD to begin moving its officers in the fall of 2010 to a newer facility on Graveley Street near East First Avenue and Boundary Road.
That move, which included renovations to the Graveley Street building, cost $15.3 million, with the federal government kicking in $5 million. The building was once home to the organizing committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
The consensus from city staff for years was the Main Street building would be demolished because it was too expensive to renovate. The most recent evidence that thinking changed surfaced in April when city council agreed to spend $1.7 million to replace water pipes, which includes asbestos abatement work.
The FOI documents indicate it would cost $13.8 million to renovate the Main Street building to accommodate the commissions plan. The biggest cost would be $4 million to meet building code requirements, including seismic work and upgrades to elevators, lighting, sprinklers and fire alarm system.
Another $3.2 million would be required to upgrade electrical and mechanical systems. Other costs relate to asbestos removal, tearing out building interiors and washroom upgrades.
The overall costs of renovating and then operating the buildingand where the money would come fromis unclear since the commission, which is an agency of the city, is heavily funded by the city.
Mayor Gregor Robertson and city manager Penny Ballem are listed as directors of the commission. In March, city council agreed to provide the commission with more than $2 million for its 2012 operations.
The Courier requested interviews Monday with city staff and left a message for commission CEO Lee Malleau on her cellphone. No calls were returned before the Couriers deadline.
The only correspondence in the FOI documents that wasnt related to the commissions plan for a business development centre was from poverty activist Jean Swanson of the Carnegie Community Action Project.
In an email to Michael Flanigan, the citys director of real estate services, Swanson urged the city to consider renovating the building for social housing.
If it is not in good enough shape to be renovated for social housing, then it could be torn down and replaced with social housing, Swanson wrote. Either way, it will be much easier to lobby senior governments for social housing money when we have to spend a lot to buy it.
The documents dont indicate whether she received a reply from the city.
Twitter: @Howellings
