Garibaldi Village recently changed hands and the new owner is keen to move ahead with completion of the mall site.
Philip Langridge of the Churchill International Property Corporation (CIPC) said his company intends to develop the vacant northern portion of the mall property.
Langridge confirmed that his company recently completed a deal to purchase the property from TiGERi Properties. According to the CIPC website the mall and the undeveloped portion of the property were purchased for $9,225,000.
According to the CIPC website, the commercial space in the mall is 97 per cent leased.
CIPC owns real estate in White Rock, Vancouver, Penticton, and Atlanta, Georgia. Dating back to the 1970's CPCI has owned property as far away as Cambridge, UK and Coral Gables, Florida.
Langridge told The Chief he wanted to give the community a chance to review the original plans for undeveloped portion of the site so he can get feedback on whether the plan needs to be updated.
"It was more than four years ago those plans were created," Langridge said. "The plan may need updating."
The existing plan for the undeveloped area calls for the creation of one more building with commercial space on the first floor and living spaces above. The plans from 2001 indicate the final building on the site will be the largest one.
Langridge faces a hurdle in developing the northern portion of the property as the District of 樱桃视频insists there must be a road connection at the north end of the mall to Diamond Road.
The mall lands are separated from Diamond Road by two properties owned by Gecko Properties Ltd. so CIPC has to find a way to get a road through property it currently doesn't own.
Langridge and a former mall owner, Canadian Development Properties (B.C.) Inc., believe the District of 樱桃视频(DOS) should be involved with the creation of the road because CDPI paid a $50,000 deposit to the DOS and, according to CDPI, the money was to be used by the DOS to create the road if CDPI failed to do so.
The disagreement between CDPI, CIPC and the DOS was discussed at the regular meeting of DOS Council on June 21.
At the end of the discussion, Mayor Ian Sutherland directed Langridge and Greg Gardner, the owner of Grecko, to negotiate a deal that would lead to the creation of the road.
Days after that meeting, Langridge said he had discussions with Gardner, but no deal was in place yet.
Gardner is currently using the property to store used vehicles. He has a two-year temporary use permit to continue storing vehicles on the site and use the site for the sale and rental of vehicles. The temporary permit states Gardner can make some improvements to the properties as long as the site improvements relate to the selling and renting of cars and trucks.
[email protected]
