Thursday May 26th, 2011 - Safeway Canada Selling South Burnaby Property

A few short months ago Canada Safeway closed its massive distribution centre in South Burnaby. Now the firm is selling the 42 acre property to developers. It will put the parcel up for sale on June 1st. The property runs from 11th and 14th Avenues and from 15th and 18th Streets and sits near the border of New Westminster. No price has been listed since Safeway could find no comparable properties to base one on, advises Trevor Lee who is Canada Safeway’s senior real estate manager. The company will be accepting bids, with the offering period expected to last 30 days.

Lee is marketing it as the perfect place to build a new neighborhood. It is zoned industrial, but in Burnaby’s Official Community Plan the parcel is listed as multi-family residential. The purchaser would need to formally rezone the land before starting the development.

Safeway went as far as to outline a suggested use for the property but does not want to proceed further. The company is not interested in getting into any residential development of the site. But the plan is a useful selling tool since it does show the possibilities for building on a piece of land that has convenient access to SkyTrain and schools nearby.

Esthetically, the Safeway rendition fits right in with the neighbors since there are already a fair number of high-rises in the area. Burnaby City Hall would prefer the land be sold to a company that would keep it as an industrial site, but this was not considered a true option.