Future of former RCMP HQ on Halifax’s Oxford Street examined at info session

It’s expected to take up to two years before a redevelopment plan is fleshed out for the land where the former Nova Scotia RCMP headquarters and a former forensic lab both stand.

The buildings, at 3139 and 3151 Oxford Street, respectively, close to Bayers Road, are in the hands of Canada Lands Company (CLC).

The Crown corporation held an information session about the project next door at École St. Catherine’s Elementary School on Wednesday.

“The buildings themselves are kind of beyond repurposing, so we’ll be looking at preparing that site — it’s a large site, four-and-a-half acres — and visioning what might be possible in the context of the neighbourhood here. We’re in a mixed-use, well-established, residential area that has a lot of exciting mixed-use development going on,” Chris Millier, CLC’s director of real estate, said at the evening event.

All options for what the property can turn into will be considered, and CLC will be holding future public meetings to get a sense of the community wants, he said.

This process is going to be akin to how Dartmouth’s Shannon Park is being redeveloped.

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The lab has been empty for several years, and the building is ready to be demolished. CLC wants demolition finished before students return to the aforementioned school following their summer break.

The other building is still occupied by another organization, and the hope is to demolish the structure in 2019.

“I see us being involved for the next year-and-a-half, maybe two, and at which point we will divest of the property, and it’ll be then the next property owners’ responsibility to do the build-out,” Millier said.

The property is currently zoned institutional, he added.