“It ended up that our tenants could not even go in and out their front door,” he said, noting police advised residents to enter their homes via the alley. Tenants were assaulted, spat on and had to be careful of feces and needles near the building’s entrances, said Stovell, who was disappointed in the response from police and city hall.

“The police wouldn’t do anything, the city manager wouldn’t do anything and the head of engineering wouldn’t do anything,” he said. “Eventually, we realized it was an unsustainable situation.”

The company reached out to B.C. Housing, knowing it was in search of more properties in the area. The result is 30 studio units will now go to women committed to reducing or stopping substance use.

The beer tasting room will be converted to an on-site outreach program operated by Atira Women’s Resource Society, which will also manage the building.

Stovell suggested the $10.9 million B.C. Housing paid for the Burns Block could have been better spent on developing or helping acquire a greater number of social housing units outside the Downtown Eastside.

“The province paid about $1,350 a square foot for those units, which is more than a Coal Harbour condo,” he said.

While B.C. Housing got to fulfill its mandate of providing housing for low-income vulnerable people, Stovell was disappointed his building wasn’t embraced and promoted as an example of positive change for the neighbourhood.

“You’re taking entry-level market housing and turning it back into social housing — that’s not progress,” said Stovell, whose venture in the neighbourhood got off to a rocky start when activists disrupted a news conference to open the building.

“They had signs that said — and I’ll never forget this — ‘No students and young workers in the Downtown Eastside.’ Like, what’s that?”