City poised to sell former Dominion Bridge industrial site

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This article was published 28/11/2012 (5017 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE City of Winnipeg is poised to sell the former Dominion Bridge industrial site to a buyer prepared to complete the environmental cleanup of the Dublin Avenue site.

On Friday, city council’s property committee will consider a plan to sell the Dominion Bridge site to R.S. Harris for $4 million. The plan calls for the new owner to negotiate a deal with Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship to remediate the site, which is partly littered with non-toxic metal grindings.

The city and province have already reached a draft agreement to share the cost of cleaning up the site, which the city acquired in 2008 in a tax sale. The deal calls for the province to pay half the cost of a remediation plan estimated to be at least $2.9 million, according to a report prepared by city real estate manager John Zabudney.

Since then, the city has collected rent from industrial tenants on the property while listing agent Shindico Realty attempted to sell the site.

Earlier this fall, council’s property committee directed city staff to sever Shindico’s contract to manage the property. Unbeknownst to the committee or property director Barry Thorgrimson, a sale was already in the works.

According to the terms of the sale, R.S. Harris will be responsible for the site once the cleanup is complete.

The city plans to net $918,000 from the sale, once the cleanup costs and a $100,000 commission are taken into account. The net proceeds will be spent on community centres, historic buildings and land marketing, according to a financial impact statement.