The headline caught the eye of U.S.-based property
developer Krishnan Suthanthiran, who was in Halifax
when he heard the ghost town was for sale, complete
with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, the Maple Leaf
pub and 302 homes.
Located 139 kilometres north of Prince Rupert on
Alice Arm, the sale of Kitsault included 130 hectares
of land, 2.4 km of oceanfront, 92 homes, 210 apartments,
a shopping mall, recreation centre, a gym, library,
curling rink and paved roads.
The former mining town was built in the late 1970s,
but when molybdenum prices plunged in 1982, the Climax
mine was closed. Its last residents moved out in 1983,
with a sign on the edge of town asking the last person
leaving Kitsault to "please turn out the lights."
For two decades Kitsault was empty, save for a caretaker,
his wife, and the foxes and bears that wander the
streets.
"It kinda gives you a funny feeling in a way
because you'll drive down the street, it's all paved,
and all of a sudden you'll see a tricycle sitting
there. And you'll go into the house and you'll see
the brown shag carpet, flowered wallpaper and the
kitchen table with the chrome legs,"
Kitsault first went on the market in 1992, with an
asking price of $23.5 million, but there was little
interest. With the asking price considerably knocked
down this time around, Nielsen received 10 offers.
Millionaire U.S. businessman Krishnan Suthanthiran
reportedly has big plans for the town he purchased
in western Canada for $5.7 million.
