British Columbia’s Property Assessment Review Panel has approved a nearly threefold increase in the 2025 assessed value of Vancouver’s former Dunsmuir hotel site, after a citizen launched a rare third-party appeal.
“I do feel that there’s a little bit of justice,” planning and real estate consultant Michael Geller told Global News in an interview.
500 Dunsmuir Street is being cleared for a new development by its owner, Holborn Properties, after the former hotel-turned-Dunsmuir House single-room occupancy (SRO) was torn down in January.
The City of Vancouver ordered the demolition of the 115-year-old building last December after it deteriorated to the point it was at risk of “catastrophic collapse.”
Geller was curious about the property’s assessed value and said he discovered the dilapidated building was assessed highly while the land was valued very low.
He said he wanted Holborn to pay its fair share of taxes based on the property’s true value.
“I decided it was not fair,” said Geller Friday. “It seemed inappropriate that somebody could neglect a building to the point that it had to be demolished and then benefit from lower property taxes.”
As a result of Geller’s appeal, the original 2025 assessment of $6,476,000 was amended to $18,965,000, a 193 per cent increase in its assessed value.
“The taxes will increase from around $70,000 to just over $200,000,” Geller told Global News.
“That property (500 Dunsmuir) was dramatically under-assessed,” retired BC Assessment appraiser Derek Holloway said.
Holloway, who had a 28-year career with BC Assessment, said the former Dunsmuir House site highlights a bigger issue of undervalued commercial properties in British Columbia.
“When those properties are not effectively assessed and taxed, then what they don’t pay gets spread out amongst all the other taxpayers within that taxing jurisdiction,” Holloway told Global News Friday.
In Vancouver, Holloway said property taxes have increased well above inflation over the last five years.
“They’ve averaged seven per cent a year and that compounds,” Holloway said.
When asked if that average rate increase would be lower if larger properties were valued properly, Holloway responded: “Yes, it would certainly take the edge off.”
The former BC Assessment senior appraiser said the current Assessment Act has no teeth because of the way it is written, adding it would be a very simple fix to adjust a few lines.
“Sections 13 to 16 say that it’s an offence to not provide BC Assessment with information you’ve been requested to provide,” said Holloway. “But because there are absolutely no penalties or consequences, it happens all the time.”
Holloway said a 2024 Union of BC Municipalities motion is asking the provincial government to address the issue of under-assessing industrial, commercial and investment or (ICI) properties, although he noted similar past motions have died in committee.
Holborn Properties, which did not make anyone available for an interview Friday, has until April 30 to appeal its reassessment notice for 500 Dunsmuir.
In an emailed statement, Holborn said “while we are evaluating next steps specific to the new assessment, we remain committed to transforming this underutilized block into a community-serving development.”