A proud day! Celebrating the opening of PAL’s new residence
On the morning of April 12th I attended the Grand Opening of a brand new 66-unit, 8-storey residence where many long-serving arts professionals will soon be housed. Allow me to share some background on how we got here.
In the early 2000s, local leaders from the performing arts Joy Coghill-Thorne and Jane Heyman (both were eventually honoured as members of the Order of Canada) brought forward their dream of building housing in Vancouver under the banner of Performing Arts Lodge (PAL), which had already established in Toronto.
A friend invited me to their initial steering group meetings, and I offered to help with their promotional efforts through online marketing. I supported that effort for a few years before handing it off.
In 2012, my dear friend Tory Ross and her partner Keith Martin Gordey recruited me to join PAL Vancouver’s board of directors. Keith, then long-serving founder Tony DuMoulin and, following him, Lori Baxter took the reins as PAL Vancouver’s board chair role. This was a difficult time for the organization, as it was in debt and had burned through its contingency fund. The board under their leadership forged updated policies to help make PAL more sustainable.
Lori asked me to succeed her in 2015, and accepted her kind offer. As I looked where we were at I could see that PAL Vancouver’s biggest challenge was a seemingly unmovable waiting list for tenants. At my very first meeting as president I asked the board if they would give me one year to secure a memorandum of understanding toward finding new housing for PAL’s target population. The board gave its support for this, and I began by picking up the phone to seek advice from my friend Michael Flanagan, then VP BC Housing, and one of the most creative minds in the country in making housing deals. Michael introduced me to Gary Pooni, and a conversation ensued about an opportunity in New Westminster.
A year later at the end of 2016, we had all parties set to work together including PAL Vancouver, BC Housing, the City of New Westminster and a private land owner Vintop. This housing project during this time was being spearheaded by Richard Wittstock at Domus Homes, another key player.
During this period we lost the amazing Joy Coghill, who left us knowing that the organization she had started was strong and growing. For the first time ever we were putting money back into our contingency, and excitedly embracing the future.
The hard work of hammering out an construction and operating agreement, including the financing, number of units to be build and rented at below market rates was undertaken by Gary Glacken, PAL’s now former Executive Director. We later hired his successor Lynn Ross who does incredible work with her team to manage and grow PAL Vancouver’s housing.
Fast forward to November 2019 and one of my proudest ever days before today, when we officially broke ground at the site in New Westminster, joined by local MLA Judy Darcy, and PAL board members founder Jane Heyman and the legendary Jackson Davies.
Just 4 months later COVID struck, but construction proceeded.
Now today I’m beaming with excitement and pride that PAL New Westminster is opening its doors. Will there be more housing targeting our arts and entertainment professionals in the future? I hope so, and I hope that we can build it in the City of Vancouver. Today, however, I’m going to celebrate this success and thank EVERYONE who helped make it happen.
-30-