An April 2001 report about the Liquor Distribution Branch’s Vancouver warehouse said the cost of a new facility would likely exceed the revenue from selling the 9.2-acre property.
The Coriolis Consulting Corp. report, obtained via freedom of information, was written for the Ministry of Finance and BC Assets and Land Corp. It estimated the government would receive between $13 million and $15 million if LDB vacated the 280,000-square-foot warehouse or leased it back on a short-term basis. The cost to acquire a suitable site and build a new distribution centre in South Burnaby, Annacis Island, Northwest Langley or Port Kells was estimated at between $17 million and $19 million. To break even, the new facility would have to be 20% smaller, the report estimated.
“The only relocation options for the LDB in the foreseeable future will be to purchase a site and construct a new building or enter a build-to-suit agreement with a developer,” said the report.
It added that there was no opportunity to develop “any significant additional space on the site without demolishing all or a portion of the existing building.”
Coriolis deemed the site attractive for redevelopment as a business or technology park. However, based on the consulting company’s visual inspection of the facility and discussions with the LDB, “the existing building is in good condition and does not require significant repairs.”
The LDB stayed put and, since the report was written, the property value increased. The May 2012 assessed value, according to the City of Vancouver, is $27,678,667.
Meanwhile, a February 2001 appraisal by Flynn Mirtle Moran (FMM) pegged the value of LDB’s Kamloops distribution centre at $2.5 million. FMM said at the time the 86,415-square-foot building had another 25 to 30 years of economic life. The warehouse, 22.5 kilometres from central Kamloops, was built on the 3.94-acre site of a former hop farm in 1981 and was assessed in May 2012 at $5,682,000.
Then-finance minister Kevin Falcon announced privatization of LDB warehousing and distribution in the February 21 budget and said the government wanted to raise $700 million from the sale of surplus real estate.
However, just prior to press time on Friday, the province announced that, as part of a contract settlement with the BCGEU, the privatization plan has been cancelled.
In its October 6, 2009, “Project Last Spike” internal memo, bidder Exel Logistics estimated the Vancouver property could fetch $40 million. ContainerWorld, the only B.C.-based bidder, operates a 495,000-square-foot liquor warehouse in Richmond.
A December 8, 2011, Treasury Board presentation, obtained via Freedom of Information, said government property worth more than $1 million that is marketable by March 2014 and not required by government to meet its strategic priorities is eligible for sale.
ICBC, BC Hydro, BC Parks and BC Pension properties and land set aside for First Nations treaty settlements will not go on the block. •
