Sobeys, the grocery corporation which owns Thrifty Foods, has been announced as the buyer of the property Belmont secondary school currently calls home.
Sobeys has purchased the 21-acre property for $23,250,000 and has had a rezoning application approved by the City of Langford to allow for a mixed-use development on the site.
“We are thrilled that the final piece of the puzzle is in place,” said board of education chair Wendy Hobbs in a press release. “There has been an unprecedented level of co-operation between the school district and past and present ministries, municipalities, MLAs, parents and community members in making this dream a reality.”
The land will be leased back to School District 62 for the next 24 to 30 months, until the new Belmont school is complete.
The current school board office is not a part of the deal and will remain where it is. A new bus yard and facilities building will have to be built somewhere in the West Shore, and the district is currently looking at potential sites.
No decisions have been made yet on the future of the Westshore Skatepark which also sits on the property. The current lease by West Shore Parks and Recreation has run out and the park will have to be torn out if no new deal is met with either the district or Sobeys.
The sale completes the funding for the two new secondary schools being built on the West Shore, Royal Bay in Colwood and the new Belmont secondary in the Glen Lake area of Langford. The majority of the rest of the funding is coming from the provincial ministry of education.
“This marks a milestone in the process to complete a much-needed new school for our students,” said Langford Mayor Stew Young in a press release. “Securing financing for the new school and enabling the City of Langford to work with Sobeys to create a multi-use development we can all be proud of is a win-win situation for our residents.”
