Canada’s Supreme Court rejects appeal from property developer Concord Pacific Acquisitions, ending long-running legal dispute over $1 billion development of one of Vancouver’s last waterfront properties hit.
The feud began in 2015 when Concord signed a deal with Singapore-based billionaire Oei Hong Leung and his company, Canadian Metropolitan Properties, to co-develop the former Plaza of Nations site for the 1986 World Expo. It started when he claimed to have withdrawn the
Oei and Concord boss Terry Hui are turning a five-hectare lot on the northeast shore of Vancouver’s False Creek into a mixed-use community with a 30-story skyscraper, ice skating rink, community center and arts venue. I signed the first agreement to change.
When negotiations broke down seven years ago, Hoi and Concord filed a civil lawsuit, claiming their preliminary agreement with Oei was a binding contract.
The BC Supreme Court upheld Oei in 2019 and the BC Court of Appeal ruled in a majority in January, both courts saying the contract lacked sufficient “prerequisites” to make it enforceable. I decided there was.
The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision means that the lower court’s decision is valid, and the High Court, in accordance with customary practice, does not give reasons for denying Concord’s appeal.
Daiei and Canadian Metropolitan Properties are pushing ahead with plans to develop the Plaza of Nations land, now called Expo Gardens, and the company has confirmed that the project has nearly completed the City of Vancouver permitting process. .
Oei said he hopes construction will begin this year on the property, which he purchased for $40 million in 1990, but is currently valued at an estimated $800 million.
“Now I can build something iconic for Vancouver and give something back to the city I love,” Daiei said in a statement released after the BC Court of Appeals ruling. .
Concord, which still owns the land east of the Plaza of Nations at the northeast end of False Creek, is seeking permission to develop the site.
The company called the BC Court of Appeals ruling “disappointing” when the ruling was announced in January, but said it wanted to develop Plaza of Nations regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court of Canada’s appeal petition. Added in news release. The site will “immediately advance for the benefit of the entire community.”
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