Shaw Wood building sparks commercial interest

By Carolyn Sloan

Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

Municipal efforts to find a buyer for the former Shaw Wood plant in Cornwallis Park have resulted in a few expressions of interest.

Shaw has listed the property and is working with a consultant hired by the municipally led Shaw Wood Plant Planning Committee, which has been pursuing the potential redevelopment of the plant since its closure July of last year, after the announcement that the company was not able to renew its principal contract with IKEA.

Now that there have been two or three companies touring the building as a prospective site, Annapolis County Warden Peter Newton says that it may be more sustainable for the community if the building could be divided and used by more than one enterprise. This diversification, he explains, could help prevent the situation with Shaw Wood, which had to close down the entire operation after it was unable to renew its contract with IKEA. He adds that part of the consultant’s mandate is to determine whether or not the space could be divided to accommodate several different functions, as well as to determine specific uses for the building.

“I feel good about it,” the warden says. “There has been a fair amount of interest in the building.”

Newton also indicates that with the Annapolis-Digby Economic Development Agency now up and running, the RDA will take on responsibility of marketing the area, as well as the vacant building. In conjunction, both Nova Scotia Business Inc. and the company profiling the site, will use information collected by the consultant for their own promotions.