*This story has been updated with new information.
Burnaby’s iconic milk plant on Lougheed Highway was sold for a whopping $209 million.
The 20-acre industrial parcel, owned the Saputo Inc., might not seem “iconic” to you, but as someone who grew up five minutes away, it is pretty special.
Back then, in the 1970s, I knew it as Dairyland. I remember seeing all the milk delivery trucks roll in and out every day. I used to love waiting for the milk man to show up in our back alley and clomp up the backstairs to deliver the cold stuff.
The plant has supplied good jobs for people for decades. But now it’s leaving and I’m a little sad.
It’s a piece of our history - a piece of my history.
The dairy plant was sold for $218 million under a potential redevelopment plan. That deal closes in the first quarter of 2019. The buyer is a joint effort of the Peterson Group and Create Properties, which is building the Sussex project near Metrotown.
I’m assuming it will become condo towers, which makes sense because it’s situated right next to a SkyTrain station. The property next door is owned by Polygon.
All the jobs look to be moving to a20-acre site on Kingsway Avenue in Port Coquitlam.
According to the public company’s quarterly report ending March 31 — released early June — it noted the $240-million project in its three-year capital expenditure plan “to better serve the market in Western Canada.”
Saputo is the largest cheese manufacturer and leading fluid milk and cream processor in the country, distributing nearly 232 million litres of product a year in B.C. — with three-quarters of it going to locations around Metro Vancouver.
- With files from the Tri-City News
