Developer sued over plan to add housing at Richmond United Church

In 2016, the United Church of Canada signed a contract to rebuild an aging Richmond church and add almost 200 units of rental housing.

Five years later, Brighouse United Church was forced to sell the church after the redevelopment project stalled.

Now it has sued Colliers International for breach of contract in B.C. Supreme Court.

Brighouse has operated for almost 100 years, half of that time at its current location on Bennett Road. It will close for good at the end of June.

Church officials weren’t available to comment, but the Brighouse Church website said it had voted to close the church, and that “the saddest part is that it didn’t have to happen.”