The City bought the land at 14 Commercial St. as part of a process to redevelop downtown Nanaimo. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)
redevelopment

City buys long-time vacant land in downtown Nanaimo

Jul 26, 2021 | 7:57 PM

NANAIMO — Major steps have been taken to revitalize a blighted corner of downtown Nanaimo.

Mayor Leonard Krog during a council meeting on Monday, July 26 announced the City has negotiated the sale of 14 Commercial St., which is currently a large hole where the former Jean Burns building stood.

The price was not made public.

Krog said the downtown Nanaimo site, which has existed as a large hole since 2017 when the Jean Burns building was demolished after a fire, needed to be redeveloped. He reported the City did not want to wait a significant amount of time, potentially years, for the site to be addressed.

The land at 14 Commercial St. is tied to the purchase of two adjacent parcels on Terminal Ave.

The area in downtown Nanaimo is being eyed as the home for a new transit exchange and public square.

Ideas for the land are currently conceptual. Public input on the plan was expected to be sought in mid-July but hasn’t yet started.

There’s no timeline in place of when the area will be redeveloped.

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