The owner of Sarnia's Bayside Mall has requested the sale of the land.
The information was disclosed out of Sarnia council's closed meeting Monday.
Seasons Retirement Communities closed its deal to acquire the building and lease the land from the city last April.
Mayor Mike Bradley says any consideration of city owned land sales should be done publicly.
"It's a public piece of land," says Bradley. "Its been in our possession going back to the late 70's and 80's. The process has to be very fair to everyone. This would declare that land surplus. It would go up for sale. Obviously, there's one bidder that is quite interested in the land to put it together as a package."
The Oakville-based company is planning to build a high-rise to accommodate a retirement residence with 140-160 independent and assisted living suites on the 8.5 acre site.
"They're the most natural buyer for the land. We have had appraisals for the land, so we know the value. The building has sold a number of times without the land lease becoming an issue."
Bradley thinks there's a really opportunity for the city when it comes to parking.
"There's 1,600 or so parking spots and hopefully out of this we can make some arrangements because there's public parking that would be accessible to the public on a regular basis."
Bradley says the company has plans to attend council's next meeting on June 11 to update the public on their project.
Seasons has 11 retirement communities in Ontario, including the 120-suite Seasons Strathroy Retirement Community.
