The Port of Vancouver is expected Tuesday to update its big-picture plan for making land and building improvements, including considering a series of proposals that would advance the development of its 108-acre Centennial Industrial Park.
The Centennial property proposals are part of a draft resolution that port commissioners Nancy Baker, Jerry Oliver and Brian Wolfe are slated to review and decide on during their regular public meeting, to be held at 9:30 a.m. at the port’s administrative office, 3103 N.W. Lower River Road.
The resolution would make changes to the port’s “comprehensive scheme of harbor improvements and industrial development.” The document spells out potential future land uses, and construction, demolition and improvement projects.
One proposal would sell a 9.6-acre lot at the Centennial parcel to Maruichi Northwest by declaring the lot as surplus land. It’s a deal that’s been in the works since at least mid-October, when port commissioners approved a purchase and sale agreement with the company. Maruichi wants to invest at least $30 million to build and equip a 160,000-square-foot steel tubing mill that could employ up to 50 people.
Another proposal would declare four other lots at the Centennial site as surplus property, making them available for sale or lease for office and light industrial development. Those four lots total about 21 acres. The port doesn’t yet have employers lined up to fill the lots, but “there has been some interest” in them, Abbi Russell, a spokeswoman for the port, said Monday.
All five of the lots that are being prepared for development, including the Maruichi project, are at the 58-acre, shovel-ready portion of the 108-acre Centennial property, southeast of Vancouver Lake.
Under yet another proposal for the 58-acre portion of the Centennial site, the port would officially state its intention to design and construct a 100,000-square-foot building there. It’s unclear which lot would become home to such a building, Russell said, but the building could be used for office, warehouse and light-industrial purposes.
The port doesn’t have a design yet, so no cost estimate is available, she said. However, the port expects to construct the building within the next two years.
Meanwhile, the port also has its eye on the other portion of the Centennial parcel: 50 acres, known as Parcel 7, that lacks infrastructure. The resolution commissioners will consider today includes a proposal to establish the 50-acre tract as a new light industrial park.
There’s no specific timeline or costs associated with Parcel 7, Russell said, but making it part of the port’s comprehensive scheme is the first step in developing it as part of the total 108-acre Centennial property.
In addition to addressing the Centennial site’s future, the resolution calls for the relocation of certain port-owned buildings as part of the port’s ongoing work on its $275 million West Vancouver Freight Access project. The freight-rail project, on the drawing board since 2004, aims to expand and streamline the port’s rail network to move cargo by train more efficiently.
