The Revelstoke School District is seeking proposals to develop all or portions of the Mountain View Elementary site.
A request for proposal was placed on BC Bid and several other websites last week soliciting development plans for the central Revelstoke location. It can be read below.
It’s the second time an RFP has gone out, but the school district is more hopeful they will receive offers this time.
“I don’t know if its a different time now, but we have received fairly serious inquiries about the property, which is encouraging,” said Anne Cooper, who is managing the disposition of the property for the district.
She said the fact only the historic building is standing, and an improved economic climate will lead more offers to develop the site.
The school district also modified its RFP, giving prospective developers the chance to develop up to four portions of the site. They are:
— The heritage building;
— The stretch along Garden Avenue;
— The western section along Second Street;
— The western section along Third Street.
The RFP says the property can be divided into various lot sizes. It specifies a portion of the land must be preserved as park space. “We want to be a good partner in the community,” said Cooper. “We certainly want to preserve the park space we committed to.”
The school district applied for heritage designation for the school building. The rest of the school was demolished late last year and the site will be cleaned up and graded in the spring.
The school district hopes some serious offers come around this time, otherwise it will have to go about sub-dividing and selling the site itself.
“We really don’t want to be in the land development business,” said superintendent Mike Hooker.
He said the costs associated with disposing the site are part of the $53 million the district received for the two new schools.
The school district is expected to return $2.4 million to the province’s coffers by selling off the Big Eddy Elementary, Mountain View Elementary and Mount Begbie Elementary sites.
The sale of the Big Eddy site is being held up the ongoing water issues in the neighbourhood. The disposal of Mount Begbie Elementary will take place once the other two sites are dealt with.
