Looking over the 40-acre waterfront Somass property, Port Alberni's Chief Administrative Officer Mike Fox sees an area that is key to shaping the city’s future.
“I believe this project will be one of those defining moments where people will look back years from now and comment on how the community rallied and how we enabled the development of this key waterfront area,” he says.
The land that once housed Western Forest Products Somass Division was purchased from the timber giant after the mill was shuttered in 2017 and the land sat vacant for more than a decade.
An agreement was signed in February of 2025 between the City of Port Alberni and Squamish-based developer Matthews West Developments Ltd., one of 16 companies to express interest in developing the property when the Request for Expressions of Interest was first issued by Port Alberni in September of 2022. The company is looking to build a large, multi-use development on the property which will incorporate park space, retail, office spaces, housing and light industrial uses.
”We can’t say what it’s going to look like until we do the full analysis, but it will be similar to other developments that have developed on ocean-fronts with the same environmental risks,” Fox says.
It’s believed Matthews West will begin engaging with consultants and the public as soon as June and July to ensure the company captures the public’s vision of what should be placed on the land. Fox says the local First Nations will be among the first to be consulted.
“We look forward to the upcoming work on the site, engaging with the community and working hand-in-hand with the city, Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations on this exceptional development opportunity,” says Matthews West president John Matthews.
Fox says there has been a lot of public interest in the development and invites citizens to follow progress updates on the city’s https://www.letsconnectpa.ca/somass-lands website.
“We have a lot of interest in what’s happening, I get a lot of people saying 'hey, put me on the list for a condo if there’s one down there,' but I think the biggest interest is light industry,” Fox says.
Members of the public are already getting a preview of the project thanks to a four-kilometre walkway that stretches from Harbour Quay to Victoria Quay, says Deputy CAO and Director of Development Services Scott Smith.
“There will be a permanent public waterfront park but now why not open it up in the interim, so it allows the public to get out to the waterfront that they haven’t done in 90 years,” Smith says.
The temporary walkway was opened last July and now includes several sitting areas and trees that will all be movable as the development proceeds.
While there was early discussion about trying to incorporate some of the structures used in the operation of the mill, Fox says geotechnical and structural analysis work is being done to see if any meet building standards. One of the buildings included in initial discussions burned down last summer.
The ultimate goal, Fox says, is to have a region that will draw visitors and make the city proud.
Matthews West indicates the work they do along the Port Alberni waterfront will be similar to the success in their Oceanfront Squamish (oceanfrontsquamish.com) project.
”There’s lots of other types of developments that are happening in Canada and in the States and around the world that have a mixed-use and usually when that happens it changes the demographic that is using the city and creates new opportunities for that blue circular economy,” Fox says.
He is confident city council took a calculated risk that is paying off and hopes the development will come to fruition within the next few years.
”I think the Squamish one took over 15 years to get going, we’re well ahead of where they were at but there should be more information in September or October when we’ve had time to verify what they’re doing,” he says.
