The sale of a prominent piece of property in Maple Ridge has been finalized and the new owner is preparing a development application for the former Mussallem Motors property.
City rezoning is being sought for a proposal to construct two condo towers of between six and 12 storeys for a total of 319 units at 223rd Street and Lougheed Highway.
About 3,500 sq. metres of ground floor commercial would be part of the development.
Dalvir Sanghera, with Apna Group Inc., said the sale was finalized at the end of November at the price of $10.1 million.
“We’re looking forward to making a project that works.” said Sanghera.
Mussallem Motors has a strong history in Maple Ridge, he added.
“Maybe we might want to celebrate that in some way. We’ll see what we can do about that.”
The application will go to council in the new year. If approved, construction likely won’t start until 2021.
“We’d like to move it faster, [but] we’re understanding of the city process,” Sanghera said.
The proposal is for two multi-storey towers at 223rd Street and Lougheed Highway, the former location of Mussallem Motors, which dominated the spot for decades until a November 2017 fire razed the building.
Former Maple Ridge mayor Solomon Mussallem founded the business in 1919, when it was named Haney Garage Ltd. on 224th Street, south of Lougheed Highway.
The business made its last move to its location on Lougheed and 223rd Street in 1947.
The proposal, which also includes keeping the lane-way between the streets and two buildings open to the public, will be built in four phases.
According to a staff report, the project will create a central, outdoor plaza that will have green space, seating areas and public art, along with routes for non-motorized transportation.
Sanghera said the location has been underutilized.
“It hasn’t seen any action for a long time. It is the gateway to Maple Ridge. Anybody would see this site on their way to Mission, Maple Ridge, etc. and it’s close to the West Coast Express, so it’s a significant development.”
It’s also on an historic location and the company is looking forward to adding as much value as they can to create a memorable project, that encompasses the history and culture of Maple Ridge, “into one development,” Sanghera said.
He said there could be some rental units, but it will be mostly a condominium development.
Sanghera said that the city is working as hard as it can and his company is looking forward to doing what it can to help the housing situation as well.
“Make sure everybody’s helped out and everybody’s doing well,” he added. “It’s all about everybody being well off, by every action you do.”
pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
