By Chris Beach

The Northern View

The Northern View#44: Governments grossly overpay for local hotels

May 23, 2024 | 8:18 AM

Last fall the Knights Inn Motel, purchased for $1.1 million dollars in 2019, was sold for over $4 million dollars to the City of Prince George, giving the sellers a whopping $3 million dollar profit on a dilapidated old motel.

Mayor Yu defended the purchase as it was done in partnership with BC Housing who agreed to pay 2-year lease fees up front.

But just because you have a lease with BC Housing doesn’t mean that the city should get fleeced and grossly, ridiculously, overpay, by millions, for an old motel that needs to be torn down.

Today the Knights Inn is valued at $1.35 million by BC Assessment. Do you know of any property or house or business in Prince George, without any major renovation or investment, that sells for 400 percent above BC Assessment value?

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Municipalities use BC Assessment and independent commercial appraisals in negotiations when purchasing properties. So who did the appraisal on the Knights Inn and what’s their relationship with the city?

The local commercial appraiser I talked to was dumbfounded and shocked at the selling price of $4.1 million, as were the two Prince George realtors I also talked to. BC Housing has since bought the North Star Inn from the same people for $10.5 million at a whopping $7 million profit on that property alone in just a few years.

The same individuals bought the Lotus Hotel downtown for $700,000 and 18 months later sold it to, you guessed it, BC Housing, for $2,000,000, again a 300 percent profit. At a time when city residents are facing down a $36 million dollar pool repair, our local schools, $2 million in budget cuts, our hospital, woefully under-funded and staffed.

Our City Hall and BC Housing think it’s appropriate to hand over $12 million dollars in profits to two local businessmen for the sale of some old hotels at three and four times their current value? City Hall should know better, and Victoria likely doesn’t have a clue.

Neither is acceptable and the citizens of Prince George and the province deserve some answers. I’m Chris Beach and this is the Northern View.

Editors note: The views expressed in this column do not necessarily represent the views of Pattison Media.