From the Outlook Economic Review section in the Feb. 28 edition of the Mission Record
“When” is the million-dollar question for Mission’s waterfront, Mission Bridgehead CEO Stacey Crawford says.
Crawford is spearheading efforts to bring the waterfront to life with the City of Mission’s newly formed investment corporation.
“When you talk about shovels in the ground – it's probably two to three years on hopefully the first project,” Crawford said.
Mission Bridgehead Investment Corporation's initial focus is on advancing Mission’s Waterfront Revitalization Initiative which was adopted in 2022. The plan anticipated revitalization to take 30 to 40 years and develop in phases.
“I think that's probably realistic, given market conditions and how things cycle up and down. And when you look at other communities … it takes time to bring all that to life,” Crawford said.
Crawford says some landowners are interested in seeing redevelopment sooner rather than later.
An 87-acre property on Mission’s waterfront went back up for sale earlier in February that the realtor expects to sell for over $100 million.
The property owned by the Braich family was previously listed for sale in 2022. It sits on a one-kilometre stretch of land on the bank of the Fraser River that has been cleared and partially filled with sand.
H.S. Kenny Braich, who represents the family's interests with his brother Bobby, hopes to have the property sold by the end of summer.
Crawford says the opportunity on the market has interesting designations including the entertainment districts at the shoreline and an industrial presence behind that.
He said the industrial presence is critically important for Mission, given the need to create more local employment opportunities and diversify the tax base.
“We continue to be very interested and very supportive of opportunity on that site, and we'll do whatever is possible for us to do to help make that opportunity come to life,” Crawford said.
The approximate 7.5 acres of city-owned land on the waterfront is “very fragmented” and not completely usable. It includes a 2.4-acre holding on the river that was an old mill, a right of way where the highway will likely go, and slivers along the shoreline that will likely be part of setback requirements.
“What we do own are kind of chess pieces on the chessboard. So we can utilize those as tools to help stimulate other things that might happen, either to exchange or leverage the value of the property, to reinvest that capital elsewhere, or to dispose of them. Anything's on the table when it comes to achieving the objectives identified in the master plan and again, provided the integrity of the vision is maintained so it's not selling everything just for the sake of getting cash,” Crawford said.
Interest in Mission from the commercial and industrial perspective remains “traditional”, Crawford says.
“The flexibility we're affording them, I think, is of interest to them,” Crawford said.
He says Bridgehead’s initial focus was commercial, industrial, and employment-generating projects but the provincial housing legislation changed the conversation. The waterfront falls under the transit-oriented development area designated for Mission City Station.
“That's a conversation we're trying to get going with the province. I think there's probably significant opportunity adjacent to the existing urban downtown core and West Coast Express train station,” Crawford said.
Crawford was among the four city representatives who attended the MIPIM real estate investment conference in Cannes, France last March. The group promoted Mission’s Waterfront Revitalization Master Plan to potential investors.
“We had 10 [leads] that we felt were worth following up and four that we felt were particularly worth following up, so we came out of it with an equivalent number to that previous Canadian attendee,” Mission Mayor Paul Horn said at the time.
The leads largely consisted of investors looking for opportunities. Crawford says interest has been maintained.
“I think that drawing that level of interest and attention to the project has generated more local interest,” Crawford said.
He says international exposure gave comfort and confidence for more local companies to look at Mission.
With looming tariff threats and growing economic uncertainty, Crawford thinks there remains confidence in Mission.
“Mission, and well, Canada in general, is still viewed as a very positive place to become established or relocate existing businesses. And I think that we offer relatively stable market conditions, a very stable financial system. And then, of course, being on the West Coast, excellent transportation infrastructure when it comes to ports and airports and proximity to the US border. And so I think for those reasons, we're still an attractive location,” he said.
Crawford says an updated market analysis on the waterfront is nearing completion and will be presented to council.
“Early signals are [the market analysis] will continue to validate the financial feasibility of the waterfront as a whole for investment,” he said.
A dike redesign from the Mission City Station to the eastern pinch point of the waterfront is also in the works.
Crawford says it’s important to continue to make investments promoting the waterfront master plan to attract investments.
“People want a Granville Island. You could literally do that six, seven times in the waterfront. … so I want people to understand that they're going to have all that opportunity in it, but we have to balance the equation to make sure that we're also creating opportunity for employment generation and other things.”
