Real estate investors looking for a foothold in the path of the biggest pipeline project in B.C. may want to check out at a surplus land sale in Fort St. John.
Fort St. John city council has formally declared the former Condill Hotel property as “surplus” and directed city staff to secure a real estate agent to ready it for sale and redevelopment.
Putting the land on the market is the final stage in the property’s redevelopment, staff say.
“The revitalization of our downtown is a key strategic objective for the citizens of Fort St. John,” city manager Dianne Hunter wrote in an administrative report. “The purchase and subsequent demolition of the Condill Hotel was a generational opportunity to start the transformation of our downtown.”
The property has been vacant since the hotel, built in 1942 to house American soldiers during Alaska Highway construction, was demolished last spring.
The city bought it in 2017 and increased its spend on the project from $1.5 million to $2.15 million, though a final report on the demolition has yet to be brought before council.
The Condill land, covering three lots, is valued at $426,000, according to the latest BC Assessment records.
Jennifer Decker, the city’s economic development manager, will administer the sale of the property. Any new development will be subject to new downtown zoning and building rules.
The city’s old fire hall is also on the market, priced at $758,000.
Fort St. John is considered a pivotal city for development of the Coastal GasLink pipeline being built to supply LNG Canada’s massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal at Kitimat.
