NV business park Pattison may roll in mere dealerships Jan-Christian Sorensen Contributing Writer CONCERT Properties Ltd. officially opened its new Harbourside busi- ness park on Saturday with a catered lunch for several hundred invitees. _ The 68-acre (27.8-hectare) development is situated on the former Fullerton Lumber Sawmill site at the foot of Fell Street in North Vancouver. ° oe ‘ - NEWS photo Julie Ivarson JIM Pattison, at the wheel, arrived at the Harbourside - business park with North Van City Mayor Barbara Sharp and Concert Properties CEO David Podmore. Once’ completed, the business park will boast a 24-acre (9.7-hectare) auto mall, a high- tech office park with one million sq. ft of build- ing floor space, a 6.5-acre (2.63-hectare) green --) space and walkway at the water's edge, restau- : ©. fants and a possible hotel-marina complex. ‘t+ The entice project is expected to take five “years to complete, produce some 2,000 man . years of construction labour and funnel an _ anticipated $61 million back into the North “Shore economy. : “Among the honoured guests at the weck- end launch were North Vancouver City Mayor + Barbara Sharp and West Vancouver tycoon Jim Pattison. They arrived on site in a black Toyota :. Solara convertible with Concert president and .. ,CEO David Podmore. : ” The Jim Pattison Group has purchased the ~ auto mail portion of Harbourside and is re-sell- ing the 12 lots — which range in size from > 0.65 acres (0.264 hectares) to 2.9 acres (1.17 ~- hectares). — to Vancouver and North Shore auto dealers, ~.. 7 Of the’seven confirmed auto mall tenants, three are Pattison Group dealerships. — Jim *” Pattison Toyota, Jim Pattison Lexus and Volvo ° of North Vancouver. Other confirmed tenants -are’Morrey Saturn Saab Isuzu.of the North Shore, Park Shore BMW, North Shore Jaguar and Pacific Honda. ce Pattison ‘said the auto ral! would prove to >| bea profitable investment for all involved par- Buck sues Home Depot ties. “Auto malls have been very popular in the United States and Canada and have grown sig- nificandy (in number) in recent years,” he said. “They’ve been a real success story. I expect the same for this auto mall. “It’s good fer customers. They car ' & at all kinds of cars without driving all over .: city. Pve lived on the North Shore for 51 years and I’ve been waiting to go buy a car in a place like this for a long time.” Pattison, who began his career selling cars in the 1960s and rose to prominence by branching out into the gro- cery business and outdoor advertising, also lauded the city’s cooperative attitude during the planning and development stages of the project. “Across this country and in the United States we do a lot of business with a lot of municipalities and cities and planning departments,” he said, “and I have never heard more compliments... than | have heard about the staff of the City of North Vancouver.” While he has three dealerships slated to occupy lots in the auto mall, Pattison said he may opt to move other fran- chises there as well. The . Pattison Group has nine auto dealerships across the province. ‘He said he hasn’t yet decided what to do with the vacant dealerships that will be left once his Volvo, Toyota and Lexus operations make the jump to the auto mall. Peter Martin, manager of industrial and commercial properties for Concert, said that construction of the auto mall should begin within the next two months with the rest of phase one slated for completion by the end of the year. Concert Properties — which acquired the Harbourside site in late 1996 — currently has offers on the balance of the first, 30-acre phase of the project, which Martin said exceeds the company’s initial expectations. “We thought it might take up to two years to develop the first phase and we're looking like we could almost do it in a couple of months.” Sharp said that she was glad to finally see the empty piece of land occupied. The site has been without a tenant for more than two’ decades. “It’s nice to see it won't be vacant any longer,” she said. “In the early part of the last century we were called the ‘ambitious city’ and we had a lot of activity going on with the mills and the waterfront and marine industry. “I'd like co think that we're going back to being that city again.” See Park page § Wednesday, April 12, 2000 - North Shore News - 3 NEWS photo Paul McGrath BROWNIE Tayior Smith (left) and Krystal Fisga, a St. Thumas Aquinas secondary student, help release chum fry into Lynn Creek fast Thursday at Bridgeman Park. More reward money offered in fish-killing case THE BC Wildlife Federation is offcring a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to the charge and conviction of the people responsible for the death of 35,000 salmon at a Lynn Creek hatchery last Wednesday. The reward, which is being offered through the North Shore Fish and Game Club, is in addition to a $2,000 Crime Stoppers reward for the same information. . : On the evening of April 4, vandals tried to break into the trail- er housing the Morten Creek Salmon Project. They were unable to get in, but tampered with the creck water supply to the hatch- ery. The rushing water supplies oxygen for the Ritchery fish. About 28,000 tiny coho and 7,000 of the hatchery’s 37,000 chum fry were killed due to a lack of oxygen. The coho kill set back work for onc lite cycle of the fish. The surviving chum fry were released into Lynn Creek at Bridgeman Park last Thursday. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the North Vancouver RCMP at 985-1311 or Crime Stoppers at 669- 8477, Callers are asked to refer to the case number: 2000-10300. Catlers can also contact the Ministry of Environment at 582- 5200 to report information about this or any fish kill. —Anna Marie D’Angelo Community values shared Fram page father’s sides of the family were involved in civic affairs, volun- teering their time in aid of people and causes they believed in. Those values were passed down through her own parents, Klaus and. Helen Deering. “My mom and dad taught us about the importance of taking responsibility for what the government is doing ... not just to complain about polid- cians, but to work to help the one you believe in,” said sister Kathleen Wallace-Deering. She and Helen spoke yes- terday about Glenys after she passed away carly Monday morming at Lions Gate Hospital at age 52. She was diagnosed with breast cancerin - July of 1997. To the surprise and admiration of countless © community members she con- tinued to work in her role as North Vancouver District councillor until last November, when she was not re-elected. She served for one term. “She missed one month of meetings because of chemo,” said her mother. “Ie was diffi- cult and physically very exhausting, but it was good for her to have something to work - on.” Added Kathleen, “We're very proud of her for that. She loved her council work so much.” b : Glenys shared her passion: ~~ for the Community with her husband of 25 years, Lynn Robb -— who Kathlcen said’ was Gleoys’ “biggest support: .. person and friend. They were really a team.” She is also sur-_ vived by brother Ken Deering, sister Rosalyn Manthorpe, and nieces and nephews. Before serving as council- lor, Glenys was president of the Edgemont Community Association, chair of the dis- trict’s Advisory Planning _- Commission, and chair of the,” Waterfront Task Force, Phase~* °/ ” Maureen Bragg, who took. " over from Glenys as chair of. ~ the task force, paid tribute to her at Monday night's district council meeting. “With Glenys words like: courage, dignity, integrity, intelligence come to’. mind easily because she had all of those qualities,” said Bragg.” “Her contribution to> ner’ immediate community, to. the . district as a whole, covers many”; years and hundreds of hours.” |. :: A memorial service is set for. Saturday, April 15 at 3:30 p.m.: at Highlands United Church. _. Two hurt in weekend fire . A boy and his father were injured in a fire at Woodcroft’s: Lillooet Building Saturday morning. oe 7 : Michael Becker . _ News Editor ; mbecker@nsmews.com A North Vancouver auto - dealer is suing Home Depot. of Canada. Dave Buck Ford Sales Ltd. filed a -- statement of claim in B.C. Supreme Court on April 7. _ At issue: the future of the auto “ dealer’s site at 879 Marine Dr. The statement claims that Home ‘: Depot agreed oni Dec. 23 to buy the site. for $15. million, The purchase was subject to conditions. On March. -7 Home Depot notified Dave Buck that the conditions had been met. "The sale was to close on April 4. According to the statement of claim, on March 30 Home Depot advised ~ Dave Buck that it had no intention ._ of completing the purchase. The auto dealership is claiming it has suffered loss and damage due to the repudiation of the agreement. The claim notes that Dave Buck had advised Home Depot that the sale would have provided the auto dealership with an opportunity to move its business to the new Harbourside auto mall at the foot of Fell Avenue. Dave Buck Ford is seeking dam- ages and costs resulting from the failed agreement. ~ In December, North Vancouver City council considered a bylaw amendment application by Ledingham McAllister Properties Ltd. seeking a change to allow bigger stores and more parking at the exist- ing Dave Buck Ford site, owned by Marlene Buck. At that — time ment Randall Shier said possible clients could be big.or medium-box stores such as Costco, Canadian Tire, Ledingham | - McAllister vice-president of develop- Revy, Home Depot, Real Canadian Superstore, Chapters, Sears or Petcetera. Home Hardware and Hollyburn Lumber owners expressed their con- cern over “predatory big-box com- petitors.”, - Concerns were also expressed by James Carter of Carter Chevrolet- Oldsmobile that any big-box devel- opment would obscure Carter's site lines from the road. The issue was returned to staff to consider what restrictions council could place on the site. To date the bylaw amendment has not been approved. said. Peter Martin, manager of indus- trial and commercial properties for Concert Properties Ltd., confirmed that Dave Buck has expressed inter- est in moving to the auto mall. Dave Buck Ford owner Marlene Buck was unavailable for comment to press time Tuesday. Tie family was sent to Lions G North Vancouver District firefighters were called to the scene at 3:52): a.m. to respond to a fire alarm on the 18th floor. Someone.on the 18th.” - floor had pulled an alarm, but the flames were in the northwest corner. | suite of the 15th floor, said North Vancouver District fire prevention chief: Brian Stegavig. : The fire department sent t the scene, 7 Approximately 350 people were evacuated from the building. «>. Stegavig said an eight-year-old girl, 10-year-old boy and their parents lived in the suite. : : nar “The father woke up and smelled smoke and went into the: kids’ - room,” Stegavig said. “There was a fire on the boy’s bed: and the. boy: received second degree burns on his left calfand heel. The father got them out of the suite and went back in to try and put the fire out.” ; wil Cone The boy was sound asleep at the time the blaze broke: out, Stegavig “| hree engine companies and a ladder. truck to. « ate Hospital for treatment. The father,.. who received third degree burns on his throat, was transferred: to”! Vancouver General Hospital. ~ Stegavig said the damage, esti mated at $30,000 to $40,000, was most- ly contained to the room of origin. The suite sustained heavy smoke and heat damage. : The investigation continues, but Stegavig has ruled out arson: ” — Bob Mackin: