A tale of two empty inns on the Coast

Why are the Bella Beach Inn in Davis Bay and the former Ritz Inn in Lower Gibsons not being used?

(By News Desk)

In this time of COVID-19, it is surprising there are two empty inns on the Coast. Apart from a general need for housing, health-care workers may want a place to spend the night to keep their families safe. People are looking for places to self-isolate, and others, facing domestic strife, would be happy with some temporary relief. Parents of small children working at home could use a quiet place to work.

What are the prospects of the Bella Beach Inn and the former Ritz Inn in Gibsons being available at this time?

Although the 32-room Bella Beach Inn at 4748 Sunshine Coast Highway in Davis Bay is listed on Tripadvisor, Expedia, Kayak, Trivago and Travelocity, clicking on the links for availability gives no results. The motel, at a great location across from the beach, has been seemingly empty for years. 

However, there are reviews as recent as September 2019: 

Outside freshly painted (mustard and ketchup colored paint must have been on sale). I have never left so low of a review but just all around disappointed. Strange vibe on check-in when parking lot empty but claimed we got last room? (Tripadvisor)

This is from July 2019: “After having read several reviews I was prepared to be disappointed. To my surprise I was pleasantly surprised. We booked a two-bedroom suite. It was clean, the beds comfortable and we all enjoyed.” (Tripadvisor)

Since November 1993, the venue has been owned by Bella Beach Motel Ltd, Inc. No. 435537. According to BC Registry Services, the company is in the process of being dissolved, the last annual report was filed in 2017. 

Director of the company is Guang Jin, with a residential property in South Surrey as his address. The house was put up for sale at the beginning of March 2020. President of Bella Beach Motel Ltd. is Michael S.P. Lee while Theresa N.Y. Lee is secretary and treasurer. They listed the Bella Beach Motel as their address. 

In February 2018, the company obtained a $2.2 million mortgage from 566898 BC Ltd., a company of which Michael S. P. Lee is president and Theresa Nam Ye Lee is secretary.

The official address of 566898 BC Ltd. is Suite 1500 – 701 West Georgia Street, an office complex in Pacific Centre in Vancouver. A spokesperson for the location told The Coast Clarion Michael or Theresa Lee are not known at the offices. No contact information for the Lees or Jin is available. The phone at the inn was not answered. A notice on the door says the motel is closed due to Covid-19.. 

The assessed value of the Bella Beach Motel is $4,133,000.

The owner of the former Ritz Inn in Gibsons, opposite the Public Market and the entrance to Gibsons Marina, has not yet decided what he is going to do with the 30-unit property. Renovations will take another few months, he told The Coast Clarion. He declined to have his name published.

“It’s hard to know how the market will go at this time,” he said. “I’m waiting to see what happens at other hotels. I even thought at one point that [the property] could be used to house George [Marine Resort and Residences] workers, but that has stopped in its tracks. I also thought about [workers for] Touchstone (development on Gospel Rock), which might take four years to build. But everything is too risky now. When will this virus thing be over? How much money will be around? You don’t know. It might be a decade before the public starts to travel to crowded hotels again. Better to just wait right now.”

He said BC Housing phoned him “a while ago” about the possibility of using the property as a women’s shelter.  He said he was not sure things would go that way, and he has not heard from them again. 

“I haven’t decided yet. I’m open to anything, even leasing or selling. We will see. It will find its place,” he said. 

A note from The Coast Clarion:

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