Jenny Peng
Van. Courier

Emily Carr University is the recipient of the largest donation in Canada to an arts-only university.

Reliance Properties announced a $7-million donation towards Emily Carr University, which is the largest donation Emily Carr University ever received. The money will help build the Libby Leshgold Gallery and the Reliance Lecture Theatre at Emily Carr’s new Great Northern Way campus.

The university hopes that the new gallery and theatre will facilitate collaborations from local, national and international visionaries.

The spaces will be used to hold events, exhibitions, and programs that will “enhance academic curriculum” and “shape its residents’ urban experience.”

The announcement was made May 2 at Emily Carr’s Granville Island campus with speeches from the school’s campaign executives and Kirby Goldstein who spoke on behalf of her late grandmother Libby Leshgold, whose family founded Reliance Properties and whom the gallery is named after. Leshgold was a Vancouver-based interior designer from Winnipeg who imbued her work with “creativity” and “elegant style.” Leshgold also influenced many of Reliance Properties’ designs. 

The $7 million donation will cover a portion of Emily Carr’s $25 million fundraising campaign to add to the provincial government’s $113 million contribution towards building the new campus. Construction of the campus is expected to start late fall and completed by fall 2016.

The new campus will accommodate roughly 1,800 students, span 26,600 square metres, and feature four main areas for studio and academic programs, learning support, administration and student services.

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Uplift in the Okanagan

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A rule change from the federal government’s mortgage insurer has revealed the price chasm that exists in B.C.’s Lower Mainland housing market.
Metro Vancouver realtors in high-end neighbourhoods say the latest tightening of the mortgage insurance market should have a minimal impact on their housing market, despite the fact that Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) insurance will no longer be allowed on second properties.
The ruling, however could impact middle-class homeowners trying to help their kids with a home purchase, a Fraser Valley realtor warns.
Mortgage insurance is required if a buyer is purchasing with less than 20 per cent equity. CMHC is the largest mortgage insurer in Canada.
Recent studies have shown that many parents are helping their children buy their first home, but Neil Hamilton, a West Side Vancouver realtor with MacDonald Realty Ltd. said most of these buyers don’t need mortgage insurance.
“It is a non-issue here,” Hamilton said, noting that 50 per cent to 70 per cent downpayments are not uncommon. The benchmark price for a detached house on the West Side of Vancouver hit $2.2 million in April, reports the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
Bill Binnie, broker/owner of Royal LePage Northshore in West Vancouver, where the average detached house price is now $1.9 million, agreed. “Most of the parents helping their kids have plenty of equity or even a clear mortgage.”
Also, Binnie noted that people buying secondary homes have been restricted to purchasing with at least a 20 per cent downpayment for the past year.
Hamilton added that there are also private insurers that homebuyers can turn to if they can’t meet the CMHC requirements.
The new CMHC rules, which are a continuation of a tightening on mortgage insurance over the past two years, come into effect on May 30, 2014.
“We don’t have wheelbarrows full of money out here,” said Surrey-based Brent Roberts, owner/broker of Royal Lepage Brent Roberts Realty. “This change will absolutely affect the ability of parents trying to help their children buy a home.”
Roberts said many homeowners in the Fraser Valley, where the average house price is now $566,000, already have a high-ratio mortgage with CMHC insurance. “If their kid is going to UBC or SFU, the price of condo can be worth more than the family house in the Fraser Valley,” he explained. Most could not afford a 20 per cent downpayment on such a purchase, he added.

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