Twists and turns in Birch Street Property saga continue

The property that has seesawed between apartments, a hotel space and an Indigenous medical travel lodge at Birch Street and West Broadway has recently been listed for sale by a court-appointed realtor. 

Ten months and three court-granted extensions after the developers of the property, Jameson Development Corp., fell under creditor protection in November 2025, BC Courts have determined that “because of a lack of progress” in other “restructuring efforts” and “debt refinancing options,” a formal court-ordered sales process must begin, with a target outside closing date set for December. 

The Pappajohn family's Jameson Development Corp. — headed by brothers Tony, Tom and John — owns a 75 per cent stake in the 2538 Birch St. property through a holding company, James Holdings Ltd. The remaining 25 per cent is held by Gatland Capital Corporation. 

The property was controversially rezoned for a fourth time following a July 27 city council public hearing. Not even two days later, however, the creditor protection was lifted. Jameson lost possession of the property and will be forced to sell the project and pay back its various creditors.

When Vancity Lookout previously reported on this story (in April 2026), the FP Group, also known as FPB Holdings Group Inc., or the First Peoples Group, had planned to purchase the property for an increased price of $235 million in August 2025. However, the deal fell through the following December in part, because the necessary zoning had yet to be approved, FP Group president George Morrison told Vancity Lookout.   

He added the FP Group also noticed “several red flags” around the time that the developer entered credit protection in late November. 

FP Group had planned to purchase the property to establish the Dunna’eh House of Healing. The project would have been one of the first of its kind in the city, and was set to provide “culturally safe” care and accommodations near Vancouver General Hospital for patients and families from elsewhere in the province. Organizations like the First Nations Health Authority had expressed their support for the project. 

As of early spring, Morrison told Vancity Lookout that he was still “optimistic,” and had “continued to cooperate” with Jameson with the aim of getting the project completed, even though it had decided to no longer formally partner with the company. 

However, according to Morrison, Jameson began asking for higher and higher amounts for the property, with the sale price eventually climbing to $260 million. “We were very cautious because we were dealing with First Nations funding and so we put a halt to moving forward with them.” 

Over the following months, communication broke down and the relationship between Jameson and FP Group soured, said Morrison, adding that the FP Group fully removed itself from the project in May 2026 after working with Jameson for the better part of a year. 

“[We let] the whole Indigenous world know that this was going to be ours and then just having to wash our hands of it was very disheartening,” he added. “The most disappointing part for me was how much time and money we put into this,” said Morrison, who estimated that the FP Group put in upwards of $500,000 toward the project over the past year. 

Morrison also noted that the FP Group has recently found a new home for their Indigenous medical travel lodge. 

After the Birch property was sold to Jameson in 2016, the company initially proposed a 16-storey building with 153 rental units to replace a Denny’s restaurant that had once occupied the site. 

Jameson later applied to rezone the building for the development of a 28-storey tower with 258 rental units, 58 of which were to become moderate-income rental units under the City’s Moderate Income Rental Housing Pilot Program (MIRHPP) that was introduced in 2017. 

The rezoning application for this increased density was approved by the tightest possible margin in a controversial 2020 council vote. 

Afterwards, BC Housing announced it would provide just over $164 million in low-interest financing for the project. According to court documents, Jameson and BC Housing agreed to a loan with an interest rate of one per cent above RBC’s prime rate until Jan. 27, 2026, after which the interest rate would increase to 6 per cent above RBC’s prime rate. 

Under the proposal, the Birch property would become the tallest building in Fairview, setting a precedent for the area even though city council was still in the process of finalizing plans for the Broadway Plan.

The increased height and density drew significant criticism over concerns it would change the neighbourhood’s character. But Jameson pitched the change to city council as essential to deliver the necessary below-market units in an increasingly unaffordable rental landscape. 

According to Jameson’s application, BC Housing had paid out $156.5 million as of August 2025, but denied the developer’s request for the remaining $8 million the following month, which Jameson claims caused a “liquidity crisis” for the project. The developer then sought creditor protection. Progress on the building stalled in October 2025.

“They weren’t paying their bills… the contractor walked off the site because they weren't paid for over three months,” said Morrison. 

When the developer approached the city yet again in the fall of 2025, it was this time to rezone the property for the establishment of a long-term stay hotel designed for Indigenous medical travellers from elsewhere in the province. 

This time, the building would replace the 200 market rental housing units with 200 “temporary accommodation for medical care” units, would retain the 58 moderate-income MIRHPP units, as well as add a childcare facility. 

This pivot came at a time when demand for purpose-built rental units was cooling, in part due to a decrease in immigration and international student restrictions. 

The fourth and most recent rezoning of this property was heard in council on July 27. This time, the developer requested to change the 200 “temporary accommodation for medical care” (TAMC) units to 202 regular hotel units and provide two fewer moderate-income rental units (now 56 units). 

In a written response to Vancity Lookout, the City of Vancouver said that, “following its review, staff determined that the proposal did not meet the definition or intent of the TAMC use and directed the applicant to revise the rezoning application to accurately reflect the proposed use.”

The developer claimed this was done in part because it was unable to meet the requirements for TAMC units, noting that only the Ronald McDonald House had previously satisfied the requirements for this particular type of zoning. 

While the City said that the Ronald McDonald House was the first project approved under this designation, it is not exclusive to the Ronald McDonald House and “other proposals could qualify if they meet the definition and intent of use.” 

Despite the fact that council approved the rezoning, few speakers at the July council meeting were in support of the proposal. The term “bait and switch” was used repeatedly to describe the situation.

Former council member Colleen Hardwick noted that the project was originally approved for a specific size and density because it was needed for rental housing.

“If council allows an applicant to attain extraordinary development rights and financial concessions on the promise of secure rental housing, and then allows most of that rental housing to disappear after that building has been constructed,” she said in council. “You are establishing that the public benefit used to justify a rezoning negotiable after the fact.” 

Another speaker, Michelle Travis, worried that the building would likely become another one of many new hotels approved for the area, expressing concern about “whether or not this area can actually support this many hotel projects.”

In his closing remarks, Tom Pappajohn told council that, “to maintain the [below-market rental units] is really important to us… And the ability to incorporate a daycare into [the project].” 

He added that “we’ve been approached by many parties over the last year or two [to buy the property] and unfortunately the reason we went into [creditor protection] was because those parties were not able to show proof of funds to acquire the property… that’s the predicament we were put into at the time.” 

There were further questions raised in council as to why the project was being rezoned before BC Housing had determined whether it was going to allow the conversion to hotel units, with Coun. Pete Fry noting that the rezoning felt very “cart before the horse.”

Pappajohn responded by claiming that BC Housing had told them to apply for the rezoning application first. However, “the very next day in courts, BC Housing [recalled] their loan,” said Morrison. “The courts did not give them more time.” 

Once the property has been sold, proceeds from the sale will go to creditors in a payout waterfall in order of priority, including the interim (DIP lender) Maynbridge, Metro-Can and other construction amounts, and BC Housing followed by other secured creditors. 

In a written statement sent to Vancity Lookout, the City of Vancouver said it was “inappropriate” for City staff to comment as to why council decided to approve the rezoning, however noted that the rezoning was “conditional.”  

The Birch property will now be in the hands of court-appointed realtors. The sale will be “a dual-track marketing and sale process which would allow potential purchasers to bid on the Development under both Rental Use and Hotel Use.” 

However, according to the monitor's reports, whether the building can actually be used as a hotel will depend on BC Housing removing restrictions on its existing covenant that currently does not allow for hotel use. The report notes that BC Housing "has yet to decide whether any changes to the Covenant will be considered." 

For Morrison, although he said he is disappointed that things with the Birch property worked out the way that they did, he is “so glad that I’m out of that.” 

He added that the Dunna’eh House of Healing that was at one time slated for the Birch property, will find a new home (and potentially a new name), in the area around Vancouver General Hospital. 

“We’ve secured properties nearby and are working with our same program [and First Nations partners],” said Morrison. “We’re being a lot more careful this time to protect the culturally rich program that we want to deliver.” 

Morrison said he hopes to be able to reveal more details about the new home for the Indigenous-led medical travel lodge project in the fall. 

Vancity Lookout reached out to Jameson Development by phone and email. They did not respond in time for publication.