A giant hole in the ground, but with a lot of potential, can be yours for a cool $9.9 million.

Byron’s used-up gravel pit — a sprawling site that’s one of the largest in London eligible for infill development — has hit the market.

Bridging the west-end neighbourhoods of Westmount and Byron, the 25-hectare property is “a great location,” says Chris Staeger, the London Royal LePage sales agent who has the listing.

The sprawling site comes with a heart-shaped, spring-fed pond created during a long history of excavation.

But it’s not for those averse to a bit of a challenge. Its future owner, and potential developers, will need both deep pockets and vision.

Part of the property lies 25 metres below street level. Building on some of it would require engineering studies that detail how to pipe water into the site, and wastewater out of it.

But it’s also a bit of a clean slate from a zoning standpoint, Staeger said.

While it’s now zoned for resource extraction — industry giant Lafarge has been using it to mine stone for gravel — it could be rezoned to allow for highrises, townhouses or other developments.

“There’s nothing carved in stone as to its zoning,” he said.

“It allows somebody to come in and say, ‘We have ideas, the city has ideas, let’s come in and make things happen.’”

The property has been owned by the same London family since the 1800s.

The last large comercial in-fill Staeger can recall was in the 1980s, another former landfill site just to the west that’s now the Byron Somerset area.

With the Byron gravel pit having been mined out, Ontario Natural Resources Ministry rules require it be remediated. It attracts property taxes of about $35,000 each year.

City staff are also examining what next steps need to take place to make development viable there.

The parcel is part of a larger property that has yet to be developed.

The city has also made an offer to buy about five hectares of land nearby for development, including green space and potentially a road to help drivers avoid having to navigate Snake Hill.



(Google Earth)

The listing:

“1044 BYRON BASELINE RD - Depleted gravel pit in the heart of Byron/Westmount. Large spring fed pond of 21 acres on a 63.5 acre site available for potential unique development. Frontage is 575 feet with depth of 3155 feet and is irregular in centre portion.”

dvanbrenk@postmedia.com