The 鈥淟egislative Precinct鈥� in Victoria has never been as attractive as the name suggests.
The only buildings to meet the expectations created by that term are the legislature itself and the Royal sa国际传媒 Museum, with its adjacent theatres and Thunderbird Park.
Apart from them, there鈥檚 the archives building, not primarily designed for public access, matching grim 1950s-era office blocks on Government Street (the Douglas Building and 鈥渢he bunker鈥� across the street) and a fountain-plaza on Menzies Street that doesn鈥檛 get much traffic.
If you stretch the elastic boundaries of the precinct, there鈥檚 also St. Ann鈥檚 Academy.
But the bulk of the precinct is ugly parking lots and decrepit buildings in the block behind the legislature on Superior Street.
It has taken 20 years and a desperate cash crunch, but that鈥檚 about to start changing.
The government formally listed the block behind the legislature for sale this week. It鈥檚 not part of any grand new redevelopment plan. It鈥檚 because the sa国际传媒 Liberals need every nickel they can find between now and the end of the fiscal year. (The term 鈥渕otivated vendor鈥� was invented for the sa国际传媒 government at this point.)
Knowing how close to the margin they were going to live when it comes to balancing the budget, they started an asset-sale program last year to make some ready cash. Rounding up every surplus piece of Crown property in sa国际传媒, the finance ministry put them all up for sale with the goal of raising almost a half-billion dollars in short order.
They are midway through that effort and increasingly keen to meet the goal. The original estimate of a thin $197-million surplus when the books close next March 31 has been downgraded twice. The latest estimate is a surplus of $136 million, which is paper-thin when it comes to a $44-billion budget.
That might explain the sudden inclusion of the Superior Street block. When the asset sales were first announced, the idea was downplayed. The properties were consistently described as unwanted surplus lands, cast-off bits and pieces. The finance ministry also refused to identify all of the properties on the market. The project was described as a routine function of government selling off excess land it didn鈥檛 need.
Then all of a sudden the sa国际传媒 discovered last month that a prime chunk of downtown property is for sale, the biggest single new development in the downtown core in a generation.
The eight-page brochure for 鈥淐apital Park鈥� bills it as 鈥渟a国际传媒鈥檚 Premier Mixed-Use Development Opportunity,鈥� no less. So much for the 鈥渘o story here鈥� attitude.
The sale is also in hurry-up mode. Deadline for offers is Dec. 9, just five weeks away. And the completion date must be on or before March 21, 2014, one week before the end of the fiscal year. That鈥檚 so the revenue can be counted in the year they need it the most.
Apart from the desperate motivation, the sale couldn鈥檛 come soon enough. It鈥檚 a great opportunity to start building a real legislative precinct, an idea that bloomed 20 years ago and then faded away.
The New Democrat government of the 1990s took on the task of rectifying the precinct鈥檚 obvious shortcomings, devising a Victoria Accord. It was an ambitious development plan that envisioned millions of dollars of government investment in office blocks and amenities. (There was even a trolley system up Government Street in the pretty drawings.)
St. Ann鈥檚 Academy was refurbished under the accord鈥檚 auspices, and a few smaller projects were done. But it eventually ran off in several directions and petered out.
Now the concept is back and running on a fast track. The politically minded will note the difference. The NDP was big on elaborate planning and weak on execution. The sa国际传媒 Liberals are going to execute a deal in short order, but have no plan whatsoever.
Redeveloping a prime six-acre block in the precinct is not going to come without a lot of public arguments.
But the sudden, quick sale fobs all that process off on the new buyer.
The government is going to take the money and run.
