The District of West Vancouver has bought the last privately-owned home on Argyle Avenue, with plans to convert the property into public park space.
Mayor Mark Sager announced the $7.3-million purchase of 1444 Argyle Ave. at the outset of Monday’s council meeting, completing a decades-long plan to buy all 32 residential lots on the waterfront.
“This realizes the long-term dream and vision of returning the Ambleside waterfront to the community for public use and green space,” Sager said, paying tribute to former mayor Peter Jones whose council first established the Ambleside acquisition policy in 1975. “Well, 50 years later, it has now become a reality.”
Sager said the purchase would be a key step in the district’s long-running plans to revitalize Ambleside Park, and that thanks were owed to all of the successive council members over the years who’d made it possible.
“It’s a great day for the vibrancy of our community of West Vancouver, and I can tell you, there have been 47 different people who have sat at this table over the past 50 years, and the vast majority were in favour of this plan. And I would say that history will forgive those who were not,” he said.
The property was last assessed at just over $5 million.
Sager expressed his appreciation for district staff who negotiated the deal. In recent years, it looked unlikely that the owners would want to sell to the district at all.
“The people who live in this home, needless to say, were the holdouts, but I’m very glad that we did not have to go to any kind of an expropriation – that we were able to find a solution for them that worked for the community,” he said.
The purchase of the waterfront properties is being funded entirely by the sale of district-owned land, including the recent controversial disposition of a public pathway at 3000 Park Lane, and the sale of two lots that were once part of Brissenden Park in Upper Dundarave.
The most recent Argyle acquisition came in 2023 when the district purchased the 1950s home of B.C. business magnate Jimmy Pattison. In that case the district paid $5.18 million while, at virtually the same time, it sold the two Brissenden properties to Pattison’s company for $2.49 million each.
The district had to win a court order before it could sell the land, which had been left to the municipality in the wills of residents Pearley and Norine Brissenden on the promise that the land would be turned into a neighbourhood park.
When the last remaining Argyle lots are dedicated for public use, they will be known officially as Brissenden Waterfront Park.
The deal for 1444 Argyle closes on April 27. Council aims to see the 1963 house on the property removed by early fall and open the new segment of Brissenden Waterfront Park to the public in the spring of 2026.
The house on the property has been totally shrouded by bushes and trees for years. Sager expressed hope it could be salvaged and barged away to be reused elsewhere. Pattison’s home itself was deconstructed by hand to have the usable materials upcycled and repurposed.
Former West Vancouver council member Rod Day, who was present for the announcement along with other past council members and their families, compared the purchase to Jones’s initiative to build the Centennial Seawalk
“[It] is probably the greatest achievement we’ve ever made in West Vancouver. A lot of people thought we were crazy spending all that money,” he said. “Imagine now trying to buy any of that land for waterfront, so enjoy that Seawalk.”
[email protected]
twitter.com/brentrichter
brentrichter.bsky.social
Want to stay updated on North Vancouver and West Vancouver news? Sign up for our free daily newsletter.
