Forfeited B.C. Hells Angels clubhouse sold to City of Kelowna
The Kelowna property, located at 837 Ellis St., is assessed at $1.25 million. The property was built in 1996 and listed as a one-bedroom, two-bathroom detached house, measuring approximately 2,000 square feet.
Stephanie Ip Vancouver Sun Dec 19, 2024
https://vancouversun.com/news/forfeited-bc-hells-angels-clubhouse-sold-kelowna-ellis-street
A former Hells Angels clubhouse seized by the province has been sold to the City of Kelowna.
The sale was finalized on Thursday, according to a statement issued by Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Gary Begg.
“In February 2023, three Hells Angels clubhouses in Vancouver, Kelowna and Nanaimo were forfeited to the province — a major victory — following more than a decade of legal proceedings,” said Begg.
“Today, the government has finalized the sale of the former Hells Angels Kelowna clubhouse to the City of Kelowna, marking the next step in addressing organized crime in British Columbia.”
The Kelowna property, at 837 Ellis St., is assessed at $1.25 million. The property was built in 1996 and listed as a one-bedroom, two bathroom detached house, measuring about 2,000 square feet.
A City of Kelowna spokesperson declined to share the purchase price when reached by Postmedia News but said the city used funds from the land sales reserve for the purchase.
“The city strategically acquires lands as they become available to meet the evolving needs and priorities of the community,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We’re working to determine the best use for this land in the future.”
In an emailed statement to Postmedia, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Public Safety said the procedure for selling off seized assets is “dependent on the unique circumstances of each case.” They could not share the sale price, as the sale had not yet been registered with the land titles office.
It was one of three properties B.C.’s Court of Appeal had ordered handed over to the province’s Civil Forfeiture Office in 2023, after a 2020 B.C. Supreme Court ruling allowed the organized crime group to keep the clubhouses.
The other two properties are at 805 Victoria Rd. in Nanaimo and 3598 East Georgia St. in Vancouver. The clubhouses were used for meetings and special events, some attended by hundreds of Hells Angels members.
The B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office is tasked with ensuring people can’t profit from criminal activity, and seizing the proceeds of such activity. Since the office was established in 2006, it has collected about $155 million worth of seizures, much of it given to crime prevention initiatives. A total of $82 million has been disbursed to crime prevention and community safety grants, while $1.6 million has gone to compensate victims.
The agency first went after the group’s Nanaimo clubhouse in 2007. The government agency later turned their attention in 2012 to also include the Kelowna and east Vancouver clubhouses. It argued that the venues would likely be used for more crime in the future, as they had in the past.
In late 2023, the Nanaimo clubhouse was demolished. The east Vancouver clubhouse was listed for sale in late 2023 but has since been taken off the market, according to online listings.
In a statement, a ministry spokesperson said “the sale of the other two forfeited Hells Angels clubhouse properties will be made public when details are available.” They did not confirm whether that meant the other two clubhouses had already been sold and not yet announced or if it meant the two properties remain on the market.
In announcing the sale of the Kelowna clubhouse, Begg said the province retains what’s called “right of entry, a new tool that means the Civil Forfeiture Office will be able to take the property back if it is ever acquired and used by organized crime in the future.”
Begg said the sale of the property “puts organized crime on notice” and was an opportunity for the City of Kelowna to convert the “problematic property … into an asset for the community.”
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