It’s refreshing to have the opportunity to point out an honourable landlord/developer with good community ethics. Carrera Management Corporation’s Nevin Sangha had a tough choice to make in 2011 when he purchased a 39-suite 3-storey wood frame apartment located at 577 East 8th Avenue in Vancouver. Also known as Watson Manor, the building was condemned by the city with ¾ vacated and unliveable!
Tearing down the building and replacing it with market housing would have been the easy choice, especially if the exercise was to maximize return. Sensitive to the needs of the community, Carrera decided the right approach for the project was to keep the units in the City’s much needed rental community. Watson Manor has been restored back to its original glory and now looks and feels more like condos than rentals much to the delight of the new residents who snapped up the under market rentals within days of being released for rent.
Originally born and raised in East Vancouver, Nevin also created 6 handicap accessible units for the property. Consultation on how to finish the units came from local societies who also helped fill the final few handicap accessible units. Carrera refused to rent them out to the general public until they exhausted every opportunity to provide this service. The original caretaker was kept on staff through the rebuild and continues to reside in the building.
With all the bad press these days, it’s a nice change to have the opportunity to point out one of the many socially conscious landlords that we work with.
