THUNDER BAY — Excavators are making quick work of a cleanup of the former Great West Timber site.
The property in Thunder Bay has changed hands from Buchanan Forest Products to BK Realty Development.
Brad McKinnon, the new owner of the property, says the site is being cleaned and prepared for commercial, retail and residential redevelopment.
"We are in the process of reclaiming all the wood and steel that was on the property and recycling it," he said, adding it's going to be a long process.
"There won't be shovels in the ground before two or three years."
The site was formerly the home of a sawmill owned and operated by Buchanan Forest Products, until it was idled in 2007. The company went into receivership two years later.
McKinnon is also the owner of the Finnish Labour Temple property in the city.
Work on the development of that property has been at a standstill as a result of delays in a court case after a fire consumed the structure on Dec. 22, 2021. McKinnon remains hopeful that the case will be settled by March 2024.
"Depending on how quickly the court case moves along, we could see crane work starting (at the Finlandia site) as soon as late spring," he said.
— TBnewswatch
