At Monday‘s council meeting, a declassified motion revealed that the city is looking for developers interested in undertaking a commercial venture on the former Coldstream Hotel property . The site was originally purchased by the city for the purpose of building a cultural centre, which would have brought the library, art gallery and museum under one roof. “That was the purpose (to build the centre). Then we were going to see if there was room for anything else we could have added which would have improved the downtown area,” said Coun. Barry Beardsell. The acquisition of the prime downtown real estate was the most expensive purchase the city has ever made, at a cost of more than $3.4 million. This total does not include money spent on planning and consulting Vernon residents on the nature of the project. The project died after delays due to lack of funding led the library to seek alternative solutions, Beardsell said. “We had some on council say it was going to take too long to secure funding and get grants, and the library had its own timetable regarding when it wanted things done by,” said Beardsell.Beardsell said that Vernon was famous for buying property at a high value with a purpose in mind, abandoning the purpose and selling the property for a loss, although he was quick to note that this hasn‘t happened yet with the Coldstream Hotel site. Council is looking for ideas and plans from developers as to how they would propose to develop the downtown site. The property will be sold back to private developers once council decides what will be built. “It will probably be a mix of commercial, office space, a green space and residential,” said mayor Wayne Lippert. Lippert said that the plan that best draws more people to downtown and revitalizes the area will be chosen.
No comments:
Post a Comment