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Court protection extended for Richmond development, again

The City of Richmond said the building permit is ready to be issued once fees are paid.
atmosphere-galileo-cheng
The Atmosphere project near the Lansdowne Canada Line station in Richmond has been stalled since 2020.

The beleaguered Atmosphere development project on No. 3 Road has had its creditor protection extended to the end of January as it looks for buyers.

The project, owned by Alderbridge Way GP and Alderbridge Way Limited Partnership as well as a B.C. numbered company, was placed under creditor protection in mid-2022.

This past August, B.C. Supreme Court approved a sales plan for the development, contingent on the project getting a new building permit from the City of Richmond.

The current development plan includes an office tower and six residential towers with 824 units of housing, of which 112 will be market rentals and 38 affordable rental units.

The property, just across from the Lansdowne Canada Line Station, is currently an excavated hole extending about the size of a city block.

According to court documents, at the end of July, the building permit was expected to be in place by the end of September.

At first, the building permit fees and security deposits were expected to be about $18 million, but the court documents from July say the final amount could be lower.

The City of Richmond confirmed building permits are ready to be issued, but they are waiting for fees to be paid first.

While the city didn’t say how much the final cost of the fees is, city spokesperson Clay Adams said it’s a “substantial” amount.

Building permits are for six months during which time construction must begin; however, there is a possibility of a six-month extension.

The original building permit expired in 2021.

Court documents note if construction doesn’t begin under this building permit, and a possible extension of another six months, the property will need to undergo a new development permit process.

This could delay construction by up to four years.

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