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Beedie Living issued a brief statement when asked for comment: “We received the notice Friday afternoon and are reviewing it.”

Lowe welcomed the board of variance’s decision to cancel the appeal.

“We’ve been fighting 105 Keefer for the past four years. It’s been a historic fight. The community has mobilized in record numbers and we really pushed the city to do this,” Lowe said in an interview Sunday, adding that his group did not intend to let up now.

“We’re glad that it happened, but we’re still fighting for 100 per cent social housing. We feel that is what the community needs — especially in a housing crisis.”

Photo by Nick Procaylo / PNG

Lowe said his group wants to see Beedie Living “give up the land so it can be returned to the people,” whether that is done by donation or a sale to the city.

Beedie, city staff and B.C. Housing have discussed a potential land swap or the purchase of the land, but the parties failed to reach an agreement.

Beedie’s rejected plan for 105 Keefer was its fifth in four years. It called for a nine-storey building with 111 residential units, retail shops, a privately run cultural-amenity space on the first floor and three levels of underground parking. The amenity space for seniors would have been secured at 50 per cent of the market rate for at least 10 years.

Lowe said he believed the fight that Chinatown residents and activists have taken to Beedie Living over its 105 Keefer St. development has resonated with other Vancouver residents struggling with an ongoing housing affordability crisis.

“We’ve got a lot of support from all sectors of the city,” he said. “The developer class is making so much money off of land and housing (while other residents) can’t afford to pay rent or pay for their own housing.

“It’s a fight for the city and it’s a fight for housing as a right.”

mrobinson@postmedia.com

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