Property Redevelopment Hello Comrades, my portion of the presentation should be fairly brief. Our friends from CHMC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Coporation) are here to share a few things with you and I want to make sure you have enough time with them. My role is to give you a quick overview of redevelopment from a branch and Command perspective.
Our Mission Statement “The Royal Canadian Legion’s mission is to serve Veterans, which includes serving military and RCMP members and their families, to promote Remembrance and to serve our communities and our country”
Redevelopment The action or process of developing something again or differently. or construction of new buildings in an urban area, typically after demolishing the existing buildings. "the town is undergoing significant redevelopment" I use these two definitions because I do not want those who are not in an urban setting to think that they cannot redevelop. Throughout this presentation I hope that you are able to imagine what you can do with your branch property, redevelopment is not just about tearing old building down and building new ones, or about housing, it is about getting creative with what you already have. Identifying the gaps and needs within your own individual and unique communities and using youyr resources to fill this gap. I want you to think of what you can redevlop within your branch or in the ways you do things, regardless of where you happen to be geographically situated.
Why redevelopment? For some, redevelopment is a possible solution to a common reality of many of our branches- property rich, cash poor. For some of our branches their property is their best and only assets. Simply selling it off might be somewhat short sighted if you do not have a robust business plan. Leasing it in a housing deal where you receive little to no money for an extended period of time will not longer work either. An agreement where you get your branch back after 50 years simply doesn’t make sense anymore….who knows where you will be in 50 years. Our branches need alternative revenue streams now and property redevelopment is one way to make this happen. When we are looking at proposals we are looking for the ones where our branches receive a monthly revenue stream for their branch. If we want a different result then what we have gotten in the past we have to start doing things differently.
What can redevelopment look like?
Well in Whalley it looks like this Well in Whalley it looks like this. This is an 80 – 100 million dollar project we are building on our Whalley branch in Surrey. After a lot of hard work and negotiations, Whalley will own a new 8,000 – 10,000 sq ft branch and the tower. There is also a Centre of Excellence is PTSD which is a clinical treatment centre for Veterans and First Responders mental health. To be fair this project is enormous in scope and we may never see anything like this again in our Command, or maybe we will in other regions throughout the province but the point is- this is what innovation looks like. But they could not do this alone.
Development Agreement BCYC Development Corporation - 1 BC/Yukon Command BCYC Holdings Corporation BCYC Development Corporation Service Agreement Local Branch Developer New Project Development Agreement A project of this magnitude requires a lot of oversight and know how and quite honestly most of us are not equipped with this skill set. The days of branches going at their property development alone are over. Now it is a requirement that if you are doing redevelopment in your branch you have to hire a company to manage your projects and look out for your interests. To help with this we have created BCYC Development Corp. There are too many predatory developers that have historically taken advantage of our legions. Not only will it protect the interests of our branches but BCYC Development will help identify opportunities and share expertise in not-for-profit partnerships with developers and promote a consistent image for Legion developments. Our aim is to be proactive in assisting branches by providing development expertise, increasing bargaining power, and promoting a consistent Legion development process in our province.
Approval Why do you want to redevelop? Property Appraisal Property Tax Assessment Financial Statements SGM – 2 weeks written notice Owners Representative (such as BCYC)
Redevelopment Ideas RV Parks Hall renovation Housing (affordable, seniors) Mixed used retail Internet cafes Work service providers Do not limit yourself, do not think that because your branch is not in an urban setting or may not have potential for say a housing project that you cannot redevelop your property. Start asking around and ask for ideas. If you have unused or even used property you can potentially turn it into a revenue stream.
Property Need SUCCESS Remember this- identify the need in your community and fill it. And now our friends from CMHC are going to give you a few ideas on how you can make this happen.