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

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

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.

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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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