Horizon 21 Project In Coquitlam To Be Sold Following Foreclosure

The Horizon 21 project in Coquitlam by Centred Developments has officially been put up for sale by a court order, according to filings in the Supreme Court of British Columbia and a sales brochure that was obtained by STOREYS.

The yet-to-be-built Horizon 21 project was planned for 218 Blue Mountain Street and 837 Lougheed Highway, just north of the Fraser River and about a seven-minute drive northeast from the Expo Line SkyTrain's Braid Station.

The sale comes as the result of foreclosure proceedings that were initiated in October 2022 by 1129057 BC Ltd., who holds a mortgage on the lands, against 1116191 BC Ltd. — the legal owner — as well as 1067973 BC Ltd., H21 GP Ltd., and H21 Limited Partnership — the beneficial owners. Also listed as respondents are Ze Wen Zhong and Xiao Hong Huang, the directors of the ownership entities.

According to the petition, the mortgage 1129057 BC Ltd. holds on the lands is for the principal amount of $7,700,000. The mortgage was registered on June 15, 2021 and is first-ranking, over those of Amber Mortgage Investment Corp., Amber Income Opportunity GP Corp., ML Emporio Properties (LOMA) Ltd., Alfred Man Yuk Tang, Dura Management Inc., and Integral Group Consulting (BC) LLP, and First Commercial Bank, all of whom are also listed as respondents. The amounts owed to those mortgagees were not provided.

By the time the court granted an order nisi on April 27, 2023, the amount owed to 1129057 BC Ltd. was confirmed to be $8,694,841.88, with interest at a rate of 18% per annum. The date by which the debtors had to pay the outstanding amount to stop the foreclosure — the "redemption date" — was set at October 27, 2023.

The debtors failed to pay the amount owed and 1129057 BC Ltd. subsequently filed their application for an order for conduct of sale on December 19, which was then granted by the court last month, on January 11.

Horizon 21 and Centred Developments

1129057 BC Ltd. has retained Colliers' team consisting of Hart Buck, Casey Weeks, Morgan Iannone, and Jennifer Darling to list the property. The listing has yet to go live, but Colliers tells STOREYS that the listing price will be $16.8M.

The property was previously listed, without an asking price, by a team consisting of David Ho, Adam Xu, and Victoria Lam of CBRE and Brett Aura of TRG Commercial, on behalf of the second mortgagee.

BC Assessment's latest assessment values the property at $7,598,000. The existing building on the site was originally constructed in 1968 and was being used by Centred Developments as the presentation centre for Horizon 21, although the project website indicates that the presentation centre is currently closed.

According to the CBRE and TRG sales brochure, the property is permit-ready with entitlements to construct a 21-storey tower with 142 strata condominiums, eight townhouses, and 16,801 sq. ft of commercial space, for a total density of 3.5 FSR.

218 Blue Mountain Street and 837 Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam.(CBRE and TRG Commercial)

Signs on the property seen in Google Maps images dated May 2023 indicate that Horizon 21 is "67% sold," but the signs appear to be referring to the commercial space, sales for which were being managed by Cushman & Wakefield.

It's unclear if presales were launched for the residential components, but other signage on the site includes banners saying that the project was "now selling."

Signs around the Horizon 21 project site in May 2023.(Google Maps)

The fact that the property is permit-ready likely makes the property more appealing to potential buyers, as they will not need to go through the extensive entitlement process.

The Horizon 21 project was also previously the subject of a different lawsuit in 2018, filed by Zhijian (Anna) Zhang and Nevin Low, two realtors with Nu Stream Realty.

According to a judgment, Zhang and Low "were to earn sizeable consulting/referral fees on the sale of three properties in Coquitlam to the defendants" — 1116191 BC Ltd., 1067973 BC Ltd., Xiao Hong Huang, and Ze Wen Zong, who were the subject of the aforementioned foreclosure proceedings.

"When it appeared that the defendants would be unable to secure the necessary financing to close," said Justice Marchand, "the plaintiffs agreed to forego the payment of their fees and instead become 'investors' in the defendants' residential and commercial development project. In return for their 'investment,' the plaintiffs were to receive four penthouse suites and a right of first refusal on two other suites in the completed development."

Justice Marchand said that the two realtors then became concerned that the developers would not be able to secure further financing to progress the project and that they were going to get cut out of the project. They filed to register certificates of pending litigation, but the court ultimately cancelled the registrations, saying that they were premature.

Centred Developments' company website lists a total of two projects: Horizon 21 and another project called Modus, a collection of 17 rowhouses planned for 1488 Park Drive in the Marpole neighbourhood of Vancouver. The Modus project is currently under construction, but has also seen some controversy, after it was reported in July 2023 that the developer made a last-minute decision to switch to woodframe construction instead of the concrete construction that was promised. One frustrated buyer said they were considering legal action.

If you are a presale purchaser of Modus or Horizon 21 who would like to share your story, please email howard@storeys.com.

Editor's Note: This article was updated on February 13 to reflect additional information provided by Colliers.