The former Hell’s Angels Clubhouse at 837 Ellis Street has been sold to the City of Kelowna.
Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Garry Begg, announced the sale in a Dec. 19 media release.
"In February 2023, three Hell's Angels clubhouses in Kelowna, Vancouver, and Nanaimo were forfeited to the province—a major victory," he said. "Today, the government has finalized the sale of the former Hell's Angels Kelowna clubhouse to the City of Kelowna, marking the next step in addressing organized crime in British Columbia."
The sale follows more than a decade of legal proceedings. In 2020, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that there was no evidence of any use of the Kelowna and Nanaimo clubhouses for criminal activity or planning of future unlawful activity.
The Director of Civil Forfeiture, alleging that there were errors in the interpretation of an “instrument of unlawful activity” and the fact-finding process. The director stated that the clubhouses acted as “safe-houses” providing a secure space for members to commit or conspire to commit crime.
B.C.’s Court of Appeal agreed and overturned the lower-court ruling and ordered the three properties to be seized under the province’s Civil Forfeiture Act. A bid by the to prevent the forfeiture was unsuccessful.
"The sale of this property not only puts organized crime on notice but offers communities a chance to turn a problematic property into an asset," Begg stated in the release.
The sale price was not released. According to BC Assessment, the property and home are valued at $1.25 million dollars as of July 1, 2023.