Six acres of prime real estate near Hwy. 99 and the waterfront at Britannia Beach have been sold by the BC Mining Museum to Macdonald Development Corp. (MDC) for $1,140,500.
Lot 1, as it is known, covers much of the current commercial space in front of the museum, which is a national historic site and charity, and includes The Cassiar Mountain Jade Store, the Amber Gold Trail and several historic bunkhouses, the Geochemistry building and School, in an area to the north of Main Street.
The site will be "almost exclusively commercial", said Kirstin Clausen, executive director of the museum. She added that the board of the Britannia Beach Historical Society (BBHS) had already approved the sale. All that remains is for the BBHS to get approval from its remaining 400 society members at an Extraordinary Meeting called for August 8.
"From my perspective it's very forward looking and I am proud that the board came to this decision," she said. "They're showing leadership for the organization. There will be a lot of surprised people, but I don't anticipate any difficulties."
Clausen said the proceeds from the sale would not be "whittled away" at, but would go into a legacy which could be used "to help the museum to sustainability", though how this would work remains to be decided.
In an information document that goes further into details of the sale, it was described as being "a mutually beneficial relationship with MDC and enhances BBHS's ability to carry out its mandate," and added that the integrity of the town's current historical buildings would be respected.
The document adds: "MDC and BBHS has compatible visions for the use of this land and a willingness to protect heritage assets within a development project. The Board is satisfied that MDC has a genuine commitment to joint stakeholder planning and accepts its demonstrated reputation for respecting and carefully considering complex community and environmental perspectives."
Clausen said that although the museum had itself wanted to take advantage of Lot 1 to further develop the commercial potential of the site, they simply did not have the money to do so.
"We wanted to develop the land and create a fabulous destination spot, and not to have the buildings with no obvious purpose," she said. "This way the buildings will be taken care of."
Jerry Bordian, vice-president of Britannia Bay Properties, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MDC, said that subject to the agreement of BHSS's members, a business plan that "makes sense and retains the historical community" will be in place by the time work begins this coming fall.
No completion date has currently been set.
"We will restore those buildings to heritage standards," he said. "There are lots of positive opportunities to work with the local community and create a really fun, interesting destination."
Bordian added current business owners would be accommodated and foresaw an expanded "commercial operations and office environment".
"We will work with [current business owners] to enhance their opportunities, to make their businesses grow and to make them better," he said. "We may reorganize things as part of the business plan, but we want to disrupt them as little as possible."
Clausen said no other buyers or developers were invited to bid, despite a six month-long investigation by the BHSS board taken to explore the potential of the proposal after initially being approached by MDC.
"Another question that may come will be why didn't we do a request for proposals," she said. "The short answer is that we really didn't want to sell our land. There were complex issues and Macdonald Development has been here on the ground for three or four years and could meet our social and moral obligations."
"It was all about the trust we gained in working with them. It was paramount. We've signed a good neighbour agreement and settled questions of access and heritage preservation."
A notice went out to Britannia Beach residents on Thursday, July 20, describing the sale.
The BBHS will provide access to the agreement and schedules with regards to Lot 1, by appointment, at the offices of the museum in Britannia Beach. Although there is no plan for these documents to be copied and circulated, they will also be available for perusal at August's Extraordinary Meeting.
