Major Vancouver developer seeks creditor protection over $700-million debt

A Vancouver development company with a massive portfolio of unfinished real estate projects is seeking creditor protection, citing more than $700 million in outstanding debt.

Coromandel Properties Ltd., which has a former longtime Vancouver city councillor among its principals, filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court this week asking for time to sort through a maze of financial problems due to sluggish progress on 16 development projects — most of which are unfinished — and difficulty servicing its debts due to rising interest rates.

Coromandel has been acquiring land and developing multi-family residential towers and townhomes around Vancouver since 2013, but is struggling to make payments on its 16 properties — all but a few of which remain in the acquisition, planning or construction phases.

The petition lists Zhen Yu Zhong as the sole director and officer of Coromandel Properties. Former Vancouver city councillor Raymond Louie, who served five terms representing COPE and then Vision Vancouver on council until 2018, was hired in 2019 as Coromandel’s chief operating officer and his LinkedIn profile still lists him in that role.