Head down to Nexen Beach any day of the week, and crews and machines can be seen working on Squamish’s 59 acres of oceanfront land.
After stockpiling fill, construction will begin on a Green Tech Centre followed by an education complex.
The tech centre will include an office and relocated Carbon Engineering plant, a carbon-capture research company currently located in the blue warehouse at the far north end of the property, according to a spokesperson for the oceanfront developer, Newport Beach Developments. The relocated plant will be further south closer to the middle of the property.
The waterfront park will be constructed at the same time as the site is filled and serviced, according to a news release from Newport.
Nexen Beach is being renamed Newport Beach.
The UBC Clean Energy Research Centre will sit on nine acres and include some residences, the release states.
Newport Beach Developments, in partnership with the District of Squamish, the Squamish Nation and Carbon Engineering, signed a statement of cooperation with UBC Clean Energy Research Centre in February.
“[The] education theme is to create a synergy between the school programs and business park to develop sustainable employment,” the release states.
Mayor Patricia Heintzman said she envisions the educational and business elements of the oceanfront as similar to Silicon Valley, in California.
“You create that academic hub,” she said. “You have people graduate and they want to stay close by… so you have this synergy of green and clean tech companies working with the UBC campus. That is sort of how it is filling out.”
During this phase of construction, some closures may occur along the loop trail. Parking at the Squamish Yacht Club or nearer to Howe Sound Brewing to access the trail will minimize disruption, the company advises.
Heintzman said part of the Phased Development Agreement for the land’s sale was ensuring the peninsula is essentially open to the public during construction.
“The idea is to make sure the public is still going down there, is still loving the place, enjoying the place. Your two-kilometre walk may just be two and a half kilometres because you might have to go around a worksite.”
The district’s Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation officially sold the oceanfront lands to Newport Beach Developments on Feb. 3 for $15 million cash, and several amenities, including a public park valued at $10 million and $150,000 in public art.
A website – www.newportbeachsquamish.ca – has been set up for the project.
