Renters for CRD warehouses

The warehouse properties in Equimalt that the Capital Regional District had hoped to use as a sewage treatment plant are close to having new tenants.

Talks are underway with several potential clients, said Ross Marshall, associate vice-president of CBRE commercial real estate in Victoria. It is hoped new leases will be finalized in four weeks.

The two warehouses are available after Wilson Foods moved out as planned at the end of September.

CBRE contacted parties it thought would be interested in the 4.2 acre site at 808 and 836 Viewfield Rd., Marshall said.

The property is close to downtown, backs on to the E&N Railway corridor and is close to major transportation routes as well as CFB Esquimalt and the federal Graving Dock.

The property remains for sale for an undisclosed price.

The agreement for the CRD to buy the site was negotiated in private and announced after it was signed in March 2013. Taxpayers through the CRD bought the properties for $17 million. At that time, the idea was to use it as part of the regional sewage treatment biosolids facility.

Angry community members convinced the regional district to scuttle that plan.

Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins called the secret purchase process as a “travesty.” Also, the Viewfield site is not suitable for a sewage plant, she said at the time. It is part of a residential area and adjacent to a large grocery facility.

The property was put on the market in late 2014.

Its assessed value is $14.6 million, up from $13.95 million the previous year, but well below its purchase price.