The City ParkCommunity Association hopes to find financial backing that might allow them to purchase and take control of the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) campus, which will soon be offered for sale due to a financial restructuring that became necessary when federal funding for the university was lost.
Various concerns have been voiced in the community since FNUC announced that the property, which occupies a whole city block between 7th and 8th, and Duke and Duchess, would be offered for sale. Some feel that the eighty-year old building should be saved for its historical significance. Other concerns include a lack of local green space within City Park and the potential for higher levels of traffic on the area’s narrow streets if the property were to attract a condo developer for a high-density housing development, a use that the current zoning doesn’t provide for.
Undoubtedly, the largest concern for the owner of the land will be maximizing return on resale. Apparently, administrators of FNUC have told representatives of the City Park Community Association that they will not be given preferential treatment in the sale, and that the land will be sold to the highest bidder by sealed tender.
It remains to be seen just how much interest the property will generate. The R2 zoningdoesn’t provide for many good options, at least as far as redevelopment is concerned. Some kind of deal with the community may prove to be the best option for FNUC as well.
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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra