The Evergreen building in Coal Harbour has been saved from the wrecker's ball and will become a heritage building.

The to-and-fro over the Arthur Erickson-designed office building at 1285 West Pender, with its landmark terraced design and rooftop garden, was resolved yesterday with the sale of the property by owner John Laxton to a B.C. government employees pension plan for an undisclosed price.

Laxton said he was very happy to see that the building will become a heritage structure with the Bentall Capital Group managing it.

He said it is his understanding the building will be completely refurbished and continue to operate as an office building.

The tussle over the building's future has been going on for more than three years, and Laxton said he has nothing but praise for the city and all those involved in finding a compromise agreement.

"We have been able to preserve a great part of Vancouver architecture and that is very important as is the part of the deal will see it become a heritage structure," he said. Laxton said his law and development firm will retain its top floor office space in the building.

The sale was arranged by Avtar Bains, executive vice-president for Colliers International. He said the negotiations took some time but it is one of the most important medium-sized building sales in the city because of its design and history.

Erickson designed the property for Laxton in 1980.

Laxton originally want to redevelop it as a residential building and hired Erickson to design a four-storey addition. That eventually was replaced by a plan for a high-rise that would have seen it demolished, but Laxton said he always wanted to see the building preserved.

Larry Beasley, Vancouver's director of planning, said "I am really happy with this solution. A year ago we really thought we could lose the building and now it has been saved." He said Laxton "was very co-operative and that helped a great deal," he added.

© The Vancouver Province 2006