Carla Wilson
/
Times Colonist
: September 12, 2014
The sale of 109 hectares in six parcels on the Saanich Peninsula for
$8.75 million is set to close on Oct. 31, Ian Vantreight confirmed
today.
Photograph By
BRUCE STOTESBURY, Times Colonist
After 130 years, the Vantreight family’s farm ownership will be coming to an end after a B.C. Supreme Court-ordered sale.
Ian Vantreight will be losing his land but hopes the new owner will
allow his family to continue their five-generation legacy of farming in
the capital region.
Vantreights have been farming here since 1884, when John Vantreight arrived from Ireland to begin working land in Gordon Head.
The sale of 270 acres in six parcels on the Saanich Peninsula for $8.75
million is set to close on Oct. 31, Vantreight said Friday. “We are
hoping to sit down with the [the purchaser] and see if we can work
something out to continue operations.”
Meanwhile, it is business as usual at the farm, where Ian’s son Ryan
Vantreight, the fifth generation to farm locally, sells produce grown
outdoors and in greenhouses. “He’s working away at the farm business and
transforming it over into organics,” his father said.
The farm is also known for its vast fields of flowers, including nearly 100 acres of daffodils grown every spring.
Westerkirk Capital Corp. is the approved buyer, following a foreclosure
by HSBC Bank, Ian Vantreight said. Lenders seek foreclosure orders to
recoup money that has not been paid. Vantreight had hoped to raise
enough money to keep the farm but was unable to do so.
A Westerkirk official could not be reached Friday. Island resident
Sherry Brydson controls Westerkirk, based in Toronto. Westerkirk owns
Viking Air, which builds a new generation of Twin Otter airplanes and is
located at Victoria International Airport.
Most of the Vantreight farm falls under B.C.’s Agricultural Land
Reserve. The Hill, a 32-acre portion zoned for 57 water-view residential
lots, is part of the sale, Vantreight said.
The anticipated sale also includes the main farm operation with greenhouses at 8277 Central Saanich Rd.
The farm is among the largest on the Saanich Peninsula. It went on the
market under a court-ordered sale last year, priced at $20.4 million for
close to 380 acres. Two parcels remain to be sold. Vantreight said he
has been told that offers have come in for them.
A total of 57 workers, divided equally between full- and part-time, are employed at the farm, he said.
The farm has been before the court previously. Ian Vantreight and
brother Michael Vantreight squared off in 2005, leading a B.C. Supreme
Court justice to order the farm into receivership. The next year, an
agreement was struck for Ian to buy out Michael’s share of the land.
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orders bulk of Vantreight farmland sold for $8.75 million - See more
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