- What Kensington Union Bay Properties has been ordered to sell four land parcels
- Why The troubled developer owes $99m to three creditors
- What next The properties can be listed for sale on Aug. 27
The developer of a massive project on Vancouver Island has been ordered to sell four land parcels to repay creditors more than $99m, Green Street News can reveal.
A British Columbia Supreme Court associate judge late last month ordered Kensington Union Bay Properties and several affiliated respondents to sell the land — part of the 789-acre Union Bay Estates development — to meet debt obligations.
The largest parcel, Lot 1, is more than 515 acres, with the entire four-parcel slate coming in at more than 630 acres, according to B.C. Assessment Authority.
The Union Bay Estates development has been in the works for more than two decades, during which time it has encountered delays and legal troubles.
Billed as a “complete, year-round, self-sustaining community” on the shores of eastern Vancouver Island south of Courtney, plans called for building a water treatment plant, roads and a commercial district. Some 3,000 homes were slated to be developed in an initial phase.
Beem Credit Union and Fox Island Development provided loans to the now-troubled development company.
The order, granting Beem Credit Union and Fox Island joint conduct of the sale, was made on July 22. The properties can be listed for sale on Aug. 27, according to court documents.
Kensington Union Bay Properties and International Trade Centre Properties took out an initial loan from Fox Island and Advance Venture Holding in June 2021 for $36m, according to a separate petition filed by the companies in January. As of February, the amount owed stood at $80m.
The lenders sought to retrieve money from the sale of properties, including a hotel in Richmond and two of the Kensington Union Bay Properties parcels.
Meanwhile, Beem Credit Union was owed $19m as of Feb. 26 this year with interest piling up at $5,100 per day since, according to its petition filed in March. The company sought to retrieve the funds via the sale of the land parcels.
The hotel in Richmond, The Versante, was listed for $98m earlier this year in a court-ordered sale. That property had been put up as a security in 2021 for the loan from Fox Island and Advance Venture Holding.
The hotel is owned by Ching Mo Yeung, who corporate records show is a director of Kensington Union Bay Properties Group along with Brian McMahon and Zhao Jian Hua.
Ching and Mo Yeung Properties are named as respondents in the July 22 order.
As of Aug. 14, the Union Bay Estates website was still active.
“Union Bay Estates will create a complete municipal infrastructure for its residents,” the project’s website states. “This will include traffic flow and safety improvements on the highway, new community roads, increased water access, new greenspaces, and fresh and waste/water service to all Union Bay Estates homes.”
The development would have added thousands of residents to Union Bay, a community of more than 1,200 residents.
The estimated value of the four parcels of land Union Bay has been ordered to sell was not in the court documents.
