VICTORIA – The Capital Regional District (CRD) has finalized the sale of a warehouse property located at 836 Viewfield Road in Esquimalt for $11.1 million to “836 Viewfield Limited Partnership,” a Vancouver based real estate investor. In June 2019, the adjacent building CRD owned at 808 Viewfield Road was sold for $11.25 million to Spinnakers Brewery.
The two warehouse properties located at 808 and 836 Viewfield Road were originally purchased by the CRD in 2014 for $17 million as an alternative site for the Core Area Wastewater Residuals Treatment processing facility. A decision was ultimately made by the CRD Board that the CRD Hartland Landfill site was a better location from an environmental and community impact point of view.
Since then, the CRD has been listing these buildings for lease and for sale. Several tenants were secured in the buildings to both generate revenue and make the buildings more saleable.
“This is good news for taxpayers, as this positive return on investment will be credited to the Core Area Wastewater Treatment Project participants,” said Susan Brice, Chair of the CRD Governance & Finance Committee. “CRD staff did an incredible job managing the property, generating positive cash flow and securing tenants that are remaining in place after the change in ownership. Taxpayers will end up benefiting from the improvements and sale of this asset.”
During the CRD’s ownership, capital improvements and renovations were undertaken to secure tenants and ensure lease revenues were in excess of carrying costs. The main tenant at 836 Viewfield Road is Driftwood Brewery, and the tenants at 808 Viewfield Road include Spinnakers Brewery, Mustard Seed Street Church and the Flying Squirrel Trampoline Park.
The sale of the building at 836 Viewfield Road completes the disposition of the warehouse buildings on Viewfield Road for a total of $22.35 million. The remaining net surplus from the sale is approximately $3.7 million.
