Royal Canadian Legions are rich in property but low in funds and membership, which has resulted in some unique agreement with developers for some prime Legion sites.
There are 158 Legions across B.C., including 10 in Metro Vancouver, but dwindling membership and existing regulations makes it difficult for the Legions to pay for maintenances, taxes and utilities on their facilities, most of which are owned outright by the Legion, according to Inga Kruse, executive director of the Royal Canadian Legion, BC Yukon Command and Legion Foundation.
Kruse said Legions have been looking to private developers for a solution, and with some success.
A recent example is in Prince George where the RC Legion closed this year and the downtown building was sold to a private investment group. Dwindling membership at Legions makes it hard to cover annual taxes and utilities bills. In the PG case, the property taxes were $5,000 a year and the monthly hydro bill was $1,600.
“Prince George is a win-win situation,” Kruse said. She explained that, after the possibility of the Legion closing due to financial pressure was brought to public attention, a private investor stepped forward to buy the large building.
“We had multiple bids on the property, which drove the price up,” she said. The Legion then found smaller, more affordable facilities in the city.
In Burnaby, North Burnaby Legion Hall No. 148 has struck a unique joint-venture agreement with developer Epta Properties. The Legion sold their property on Hastings Street to Epta, which will build a five-storey building on the site. The Legion will retain strata ownership of one-third of the property and Epta will build condominiums and retail on the remaining area, under a separate strata agreement. The Legion closed December 31 and it is expected to take two years to complete the new facilities.
The western portion of the new building would house the Legion's operations, including its canteen, club and offices and a new fitness centre. The legion will lease the ground level to a commercial retail tenant, operate its canteen and club on the second floor, and use the third and fourth storeys for its offices, some of which could be leased to other tenants.
According to Kruse, the Aldergrove Legion is also considering development of property it holds with “excellent highway frontage”.
Many Legions are in large, aging buildings, but existing Legion bylaws do not allow Legions to use money they raise from annual poppy sales and other events to repair buildings, Kruse noted. Each year the BC and Yukon Legions raise about $2.1 million in poppy sales and handle $21 million in sales for through the BC Lottery Corporation. “All of the money raised is spent on community projects and charities,” she said. Last year, she said, Legion members volunteered 600,000 hours in community work and the Legion is one of the largest providers of social housing in the province of BC.
Kruse admits “we have developers knocking down our doors” when prime Legion sites become available, but “we are very careful that any development is sustainable for our members and is something the local community needs and wants.”
