Bre a k i ng n e ws at n el s on st ar. c om
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Friday, August 30 • 2013
Vol. 6 • Issue 18
Taking vows to new heights See Page 3
Capitol gets set for new season See Page 12
Development in Nelson’s Downtown Core
280 Baker Street Nelson BC (250)
Forest Industry
Demolition of Slocan millsite imminent
354-4089
valhallapathrealty@telus.net www.valhallapathrealty.com
GREG NESTEROFF Nelson Star Reporter
quire the aging grocery store and adjacent parking lot along Baker Street cost the country store cooperative $3.57 million. For more than a year the coop has been meeting and seeking input from its 12,000-plus members, talking with local leaders and compiling public input. The decision was made to tear down the old building and start
The idled sawmill at Slocan City appears set to be scrapped. Village administrator Jack Richardson confirmed Wednesday that Springer Creek Forest Products has applied for a demolition permit, which will likely be issued soon. The request won’t need to go before village council. “The building inspectors were checking into it, but once their ducks are lined up, there’s nothing to hold it up,” Richardson said. The actual work is between the owner and the contractor without the village’s involvement, he added. The application came in a couple of weeks ago, but it’s unclear whether the operation will be removed in whole or in part, how long it might take, or what will happen to the land. Peter Mason, CEO of parent company Brisco Wood Preservers, declined to confirm the site’s fate. “We’re working through some fundamentals right now,” he said. “We’ll be making a decision fairly quickly, but I haven’t signed off on anything.”
Story continues to ‘This is’ on Page 18
Story continues to ‘Mill’ on Page 19
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Kootenay Co-Op general manager Dierdrie Lang (left) and Nelson Commons project manager Russell Precious (right) in the Nelson Commons show suite which is now open at the corner of Vernon and Hall streets. Bob Hall photo
Finding Commons ground
BOB HALL Nelson Star Editor
Stepping inside the new Nelson Commons show suite, it becomes immediately clear that nothing about this Kootenay Co-Op fuelled project is common. The ultra-local $27 million condo and retail development in the east of downtown feels like Nelson and when built has the potential to transform the core of the community.
“We keep arriving at stages we thought we would never get to,” says project manager Russell Precious. “But this is a critical stage, this whole project is dependent upon us being able to pre-sell the condominium units. Until we do that, no investor or no bank is going to step up to the plate.” In February, 2012 the Kootenay Co-Op announced they had purchased the Extra Foods grocery store in the 700 block of Vernon Street. The blockbuster deal to ac-
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