At the time, it was billed as the biggest land deal ever made for the City of Moose Jaw, but now it might not happen.

In October of last year, Carpere Canada was granted an extension to Feb. 28 to finalize an agreement to buy 780 acres of land in the city’s South East Industrial Park.

That deadline has come and gone with no money switching hands. The city is now saying conditions are not being removed and will not be proceeding with the purchase of the land.

Mayor Fraser Tolmie says discussions are still taking place with Carpere and he’s hopeful a deal can still be done.

“We’ll just have to wait and see and you can’t play these things out,” Tolmie said.

“We would have liked to have had this deal done earlier and to move on and start getting the shovels in the ground. But, again, there are two sides to this and we are doing our best on behalf of the citizens of Moose Jaw.”

The deal, worth $7.8 million, was originally worked about in May of 2019 and in September of last year, council rezoned 64 acres for low-density residential residences.

Tolmie said with deals this big, they can take time.

“We had an agreement with them that was announced a while back and they requested an extension and that’s really up to them,” Tolmie said. “I think what we’ve come up with is a fair deal for the citizens of Moose Jaw.”

Tolmie added that there is a sense of disappointment in not getting the deal done earlier.

“That’s part of the role that we play as leaders in the community, as servants to the people, that you always have to be prepared,” he said. “But when one door closes, there is always another door that opens.”

He said even without the Carpere deal, the city has done about $1 billion in investments into the community over the past three years through deals such as SaskPower's new power plant and the TransGas transborder station.

The agreement is expected to be discussed at the city council meeting on March 9.