Anderson is Riff's buyer
But new owner tight-lipped about plans
CANSO - Bob Anderson is the mystery buyer of the former Riff's store in Canso. The Canso resident confirmed that the sale was finalized last Friday.
"Yes, that's right, I did (buy the Riff's building)," Anderson told The Journal on Tuesday morning.
When asked what he planned to do with the building, Anderson replied: "I'd rather not say at this time." Anderson declined further comment.
Canso mayor Ray White said he hadn't been officially told that Anderson had purchased the property and therefore could not comment.
However Troy Greencorn, a member of a small co-operative of Canso entrepreneurs that had been trying to buy the building and develop it with several retail stores, said negotiations to purchase the property from Anderson were underway and would continue "in the coming days."
"Well, I wouldn't want to make a statement for the group," Greencorn said. "We are meeting in the next day or two and I can say there are some discussions between the two parties. We're exploring possibilities."
Greencorn said the discussions might "provide potentially an opportunity for that (co-op retail) project to go forward but it will depend on how the negotiations go.
"There will be talks."
Greencorn said the co-op had invested much effort into purchasing the Riff's building.
"It's a project we've spent a lot of time on and it's an extremely important project for the community (in terms of employment)," he said.
"We're pretty insistent on making it happen. This whole turn of events has been quite a setback."
When asked whether a land exchange might seal the Riff's deal, Greencorn said, "I wouldn't comment on that."
He also declined to say exactly what the co-op's plans were.
"At this point I wouldn't go into any details on that because there's partners involved that would provide detail when they feel comfortable to do that."
News that an unknown buyer had purchased the Riff's building publicly emerged at the Canso council's regular June meeting. The news came via a written report from deputy mayor Barry Lumsden, who is also a member of the co-op.
After the meeting White stressed that Lumsden's involvement with the co-op had nothing to do with his role at the town.
At the time, councillor Fin Armsworthy told The Journal that the deal was shrouded in "secrecy" and said council should be "brought up to snuff on a lot of these things to know what the impact is for the community."
