New application filed for makeover of Vancouver heritage mansion Casa Mia into seniors home

    1 of 2 2 of 2

      A public health authority has come on board with a plan to redevelop one of the most opulent homes in Vancouver.

      The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority has partnered with The Care Group to convert Casa Mia into a seniors home.

      The 22,261-square-foot mansion was built in 1932 for brewer George Conrad Reifel.

      Known for lavish parties during its time, jazz greats Duke Ellington, Count Bassie, and Louis Armstrong have played at Casa Mia.

      Reifel was also a patron of Vancouver music, and had commissioned the construction of the Commodore Ballroom, as well as the Vogue and Studio Theatres.

      Casa Mia is located at 1920 Southwest Marine Drive, a property over half a hectare in size.

      The Care Group has filed a new rezoning application with the City of Vancouver to preserve and reuse Casa Mia, and add a two-storey building.

      The plan involves the development of a 90-bed seniors care facility.

      Vancouver Coastal Health will get 58 of the beds, which will be publicly funded.

      The remaining 32 will be private-pay beds.

      The application also seeks a designation of the Spanish Colonial Revival estate house as a protected heritage property.

      A perspective of the proposed redevelopment of Casa Mia.

      The Care Group first filed a rezoning application in 2013 for the development of a 92-bed facility. The plan was met with strong opposition in the neighbourhood.

      A revised application was submitted later in the same year, which reduced the scale of the development to 62 beds. The application was later withdrawn.

      The third and current application was filed on April 7, 2017, with Vancouver Coastal Health as a partner. 

      Comments