By Plain Rhetoric

Time for the City to correct a big mistake

May 22, 2018 | 5:24 AM

KAMLOOPS — What building did the City sell to the private sector for $1 that every summer sees more than a 100,000 high-end visitors from around the world?  Need another hint? It is one of the few heritage buildings remaining in the City and until recently, had the Keg restaurant using the entire space.

I’m referring to the CN Heritage Station and a few years ago, under the leadership of then Mayor Peter Milobar, City politicians voted 5/4 in favour of selling the station to the Culos Group, a Kelowna based development company owned by well-known local developer, Mike Culos. And the sale amount wasn’t a typo as the purchase price was just $1.

Jump forward a couple of years to today and Mr. Culos now has the CN Station and adjoining property up for sale for just over $2 million dollars.  Not a bad return for a station that was acquired for one dollar.

To date though, there have been no buyers and for whatever reason and without a permit or warning, Mr Culos recently decided to cut down all the trees on the east and west sides of the building.  It was done, according to residents of the Station Plaza condos, and those working in the area, while the Rocky Mountaineer – loaded with passengers – was in full view of this mini-logging operation.  

Those who witnessed the operation explained the tree cutters left once the train pulled out and in the process left behind piles of brush, limbs and stumps, which were still there as of mid last week

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Keep in mind; this heritage CN Station is the building visitors arriving on the Rocky Mountaineer first see as they detrain in Kamloops.  It is also the building everyone sees when taking a day excursion on the legendary steam locomotive run by the Kamloops Heritage Railway. It is considered a prime gateway location, providing people from around the world with their first impressions of Kamloops.

At the time of the sale, the developer had a 99-year lease on the building from the city. This allowed the City to retain ownership of a key heritage asset while the developer had the business certainty of a solid and long-term lease.  Not a bad arrangement for both parties, or so you would think.

However, given the developer’s disregard for the negative visual impact he created for our single largest provider of tourism dollars and his desire to sell off the property, I believe it is time we admit the sale was a mistake and correct that situation.  It was a badly thought out and poorly executed real estate deal that gave away everything and got little to nothing in return. Much like the parking lot at 4th and Seymour, it was a deal that should never have happened. It was also a transaction that then city councillor Ken Christian, along with councillor Cavers were against and argued that it should not happen. (Bepple and Spina also opposed the motion.)

Mr Christian is now Mayor and has a golden opportunity to correct the poor decision of Mr. Milobar and councillors Singh, Lange and Wallace, (Dever) by buying the property back from Mr. Culos.

Admittedly, it would be a hard pill to swallow.  Spending $2 million to buy back what you sold for a dollar is at best embarrassing but I think it is the right thing to do.

If it wanted, the City could move both Tourism Kamloops and Venture Kamloops to the building and still have enough space left to lease out for a scaled down restaurant. The latter would generate some cash flow and the former would put the two key pro Kamloops organizations down where the action is.  You could, as Councillor Walsh suggests, even include a mini high-tech centre and rent out office space to budding local entrepreneurs.

All of this and we regain and retain ownership of a building destined to be a centrepiece heritage landmark, one the City could be proud of for decades to come.

It will mean some short-term discomfort with the City having to admit selling the building was an “oops” moment but it is also an opportunity for some refreshing political honesty. In the end, it will benefit Kamloops for generations to come and I think most residents would appreciate having this piece of our history back where it has always belonged.