OCC island sells at $2M

OCC announced the sale of its 36-acre island in Canada Tuesday after putting the land up for sale a year ago.

Rabbit Island, which is about 50 miles north of Vancouver at the top of the Strait of Georgia, sold for $2.19 million to a privately held British Columbia corporation made up of three people who plan to use it as a vacation retreat.

School officials estimate the total net earnings of the sale will be close to $1.86 million.

The money, received Monday, will go toward expanding the OCC School of Sailing and Seamanship, said Doug Bennett, executive director of the OCC Foundation.

After a buyer could not close the deal in October, this time the sale happened faster than expected, said Bennett, who expected offers in late spring. The buyers viewed the property in January and made an offer a short time later. Bennett estimated the school saved $15,000 to $20,000 by selling the property before opening it up for the spring season.

The original listing for the island was at $2.49 million on Landquest.com. Bennett said the school decided to take the smaller amount because the buyers had a cash offer near the amount, but he also acknowledged the initial price was higher in an effort to test the market.

The school has not found a new site to conduct its field study work, despite efforts to work out a deal with Catalina Island, Bennett said.

“We are hoping something else will become available in Catalina in a year or two,” he said.

The Island was first acquired by the college through a gift from Henry Wheeler, a yachtsman and owner of the Park Water Co. in Downey, in 2002. It was used by students and faculty for field study but had cost too much to maintain, officials said.

The OCC foundation voted 15-1 on March 16, 2007 to put the island up for sale. Since OCC acquired the island in 2002, the island has cost an estimated $550,000 in maintenance, taxes, improvements and instructional programs, according to officials.

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at [email protected].