March 30, “1990 News 985-2131 Classified 986-6222 Distribution 986-1337 126 pages 25¢

7 PASTRY CHEF Werner Schmidt creates 2 colorful concoction in time for Easter.
| Spring flowers and edible Easter bunnies are only part of his repertoire — Schmidt will
“be giving an Easter Breads workshop April 7 at rec{entre Lonsdale. For information

_ call 987-PLAY.

INSIDE
NORTH SHORE HOME & GARDEN: 13

car TLC

SPECIAL FEATURE
PAGE 19

NEWS piulo Mike Waker fl

Park Royal deal closed

55-ACRE PROPERTY SOLD
FOR UNDISCLOSED SUM

THE LONG-DELAYED sale of West Vancouver's Park
Royal Shopping Centre to an affiliate of the Vancouver-
based Larco Investments Ltd. group of companies has fi-

nally been completed.

British Pacific Properties Ltd.
(BPPL) chairman Gerald McGavin
announced completion of the sale
Wednesday.

BPPL, the Guinness family
company thai formerly owned
Park Royal, originally stated the

sale of the 55-acre property, first
announced last November, would
be completed by the end of
January.

The closing date was subse-
quently delayed to the end of Feb-
tuary and again te the end of
March, while BPPL awaited fed-
eral tax rulings on the various
aspects of the complex deal.

Larco purchased the shopping
centre through its subsidiary Jaff-
sons Properties Inc. with a share
buy-out of Storrington Investment
Co. Ltd., BPPL’s parent com-
pany.

Because of the deal’s complexi-
ty, McGavin said it was difficult to
provide an accurate selling price
for the shopping centre. Any fig-
ure given, he said, would ultimate-
ly be misleading.

But the sale price for the proper-
ty has previously been estimated at
approximately $160 million.

Park Royal’s projected cash

flow for 1991 is approximately
$10.5 million.

Initially, 13 companies had
tendered purchase bids for Park
Royal.

According to a BPPL press

release, the company will continue
to develop its substantial hillside
residential land holdings in West
Vancouver, which total about
2,400 acres from the British Pro-
perties west to the Caulfeild area.

McGavin said BPPL staff carry-
ing out duties relating to Park
Royal will be retained by the
shopping centre’s new owners.

He added that BPPL_ was
saiisfied the new owners would do
a good job in maintaining and de-
veloping the shopping centre.

**They are in the (shopping cen-
tre) business. They are in the
Lower Mainland. So they seem to
be focused on what can be done
over there,’’ he said.

Larco vice-president of devel-
opment Jane Fleming said the
company was happy that the sale
had finally been completed and

“excited”? with the opportunity
presented by Park Royal.
“We are looking forward to

working with the municipality, the
community and the native peo-

ple,’’ she said.

But she said
term plans for the shopping centre
at this time.

Larco had no long-

The Park Royal site, the
southern portion of which sits on
land leased from the Squamish In-
dian Band, includes the shopping

... the sale price for the
property has previously
been estimated at
approximately $160
tnillion,

EE RE
centre, the Lions Gate Lanes bowl-
ing allcy, a Famous Players twin
theatre and the Kapilano 100
building, all of which totals
roughly one million square feet.

But, with the site’s potential for
approximately 1.1 million square
feet of development on_ its
southern side, Park Royal’s com-
mercial or residential square
footage could almost double.

And according to a memoran-
dum produced for prospective
Park Royal buyers, ‘‘there are few

limitations on future develop-
ment’’ on the site.
But Larco will have to

renegotiate rental portions of Park
Royal’s lease with the Squamish
band. The lease runs to the middle
of the next century, but the next
rental review for the property is
scheduled for 1994.

Through its family of com-
panies, Larco owns properties in-
cluding the Courthouse West rac-
quet sport club and the Lions Gate
tennis club on the North Shore,
and the Arbutus Village Shopping
Centre and the Delta Place Hotel
in Vancouver.

Larco is a family-owned com-
pany. Its principals, Amin and
Shiraz Lalji, are both North Shore
residents.

Park Royal was the first regicnal
shopping mall of its kind in
Canada when it opened Sept. 1,
1950 with a major department
store anchor tenant, 20 additional
shops and off-street parking for
approximately 750 vehicles.

It has since grown to include
three major department stores, 190
shops and parking for 5,000 vehi-
cles.

AUTOMOTIVES SECTION: 41