A six-year hiatus in the re-invention of the Squamish waterfront will soon be over, as Cushman & Wakefield Ltd. began marketing more than 100 acres of former industrial properties for development last month. The land, once heavily polluted, has already been remediated.
Squamish Oceanfront Development Corp., an arm's-length company Squamish district council launched in 2004 to realize its vision for a revitalized waterfront, contracted the brokerage's Vancouver office earlier this year to market 60 acres of former industrial land and 44 acres of fee-simple water lots.
"We would consider everything from an outright sale to a joint venture or equity partners. We would consider it all," said Bill McNeney, chair of the district-owned developer. "We weren't asking them to lease it or do a joint venture or an equity partnership; we were asking them to take it to the market and see where the interest was."
The site was originally set to be developed by Vancouver-based Qualex-Landmark Group. Plans for a $500 million mixed-use community collapsed in October 2006 when Qualex-Landmark pulled out following changes to its original agreement that significantly altered the terms of the deal.
"We're not saying that Squamish doesn't have a bit of a checkered past as a community for developers who just ended up frustrated," McNeney conceded.
Community consultations have led to a vision for the site that will see a third developed with residential units, a third with commercial space accommodating upward of 2,000 jobs and recreational facillity or public amenities on the remainder.
McNeney is optimistic that a deal will be reached within 18 months.
– Peter Mitham/BIV
from Western Investor November 2012
