St. John's preparing expected multi-million dollar deal to purchase land from Danny Williams

City of St. John's Mayor Dennis O'Keefe said the city is preparing to negotiate adeal with the owners of the Galway development project to purchase 20 acres, or about 8 hectares, of land.

O'Keefe said the city plans to buy the land to better provide municipal services to the growing west end of the city.

"Down the road, given all the development in the west and southwest, we need a depot in the developing west end, and a fire hall," he said.

O'Keefe said the city is also losing time and money driving equipment from the city depot near Mundy Pond to places like the Goulds area of St. John's, and the city believes it will be cheaper to buy the land now rather than later.

O'Keefe said an independent assessment is being done to determine the value of the land it wants and a deal could be struck as early as January ifnegotiations go well.

He did not disclose exactly how much the purchase of the land will cost, but two-acre parcels of land in the Glencrest area of Galway are currently forsale for almost a million dollars.

Between 1998 and 2007, Danny Williams and his blind trust, paid more than $1.5 million dollars for about 2,000 acres of land in the capital area.