Nova Scotia extends deadline again to find buyer for DSME Trenton

A deadline to find a buyer for one of Atlantic Canada’s largest industrial sites is likely being extended again by the Nova Scotia government, the province’s business minister said Wednesday.

Geoff MacLellan said a deadline that was already pushed back twice would be extended again because two or three new parties have expressed an interest in the former DSME wind plant in Trenton over the last couple of weeks.

“Nothing has been solidified yet,” said MacLellan. “No initial bids for the upfront deposit that has to be made, so there is nothing definitive yet.”

The latest deadline was set for the end of this month, but MacLellan now says it will run out when the province’s operating budget for the site runs out.

In an email, the department said the estimated cash remaining with the site in receivership is $300,000.

MacLellan released no other details, and isn’t saying at this point where the interest is coming from.

The previous NDP government took a 49 per cent equity stake in the plant in 2010, committing $59.4 million to a business that was eventually closed in February 2016 and placed in receivership.

“The fact that there is new interest gives us some hope,” MacLellan said.

He said the possibility the property could be turned over to Nova Scotia Lands for development is also “still on the table.”

The 430,000-square-foot facility sits on 116 acres of land in the heart of Trenton and in another incarnation was the Trenton-Works rail car plant.