Southside construction ramps up

By Collin Gallant on April 24, 2018.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant

The arrival of warmer weather means a major speed-up of several major construction projects on the city’s southside, including the possibility of more work at the Medicine Hat Mall.

It includes new construction for three hotels, finishing work on a grocery outlet and various other commercial buildings on Strachan Road.

The boom was the local business story of the year in 2017, and with the 2018 season gearing up, the summer should see major work completed before the next snow flies.

In fact, the run is extending, and combined with recently announced major industrial projects in the northend, will likely push city-issued permits above last year’s levels.

“(For 2018) we had predicted a similar year to last year, which was pretty good relatively speaking,” said Kent Snyder, manager of the city’s planning department.

“Now we know we’re going to have a very good year. I doubt it will be record setting, but likely much, much greater than the last few years.”

His department is now adding a recently announced $100-million medical marijuana facility to its queue, but could also soon accept applications for the third of three planned hotels and a further renovation of the Medicine Hat Mall.

The mall is in the final stages of remaking its former food court entrance on the southeast side as a second phase of a major modernization.

That could be completed a month ahead of schedule, in early July, said mall manager Richard Okrainec.

The hope is to have tenants lined up by that time so work crews can stay on site, but move over to begin major renovations of the huge space left vacant when Sears closed its doors last fall.

“It’s really positive, but there’s nothing to announce right now,” said Okrainec.

In late 2016, mall owner Primaris said it would construct a new, modern food court in the space formerly occupied by Target. That eventually housed a half-dozen new bays for mid- to- larger retailers to take over the space left over from the U.S. retailer’s bankruptcy.

A similar general plan is in the works for the Sears location at the southwest of the facility. The space was gutted by crews months ago, and now plans and layout is being finalized, said Okrainec.

The entire project, not including the Sears space, was pegged at about $20 million

Four similarly priced projects in the area are nearing completion or just getting underway.

Last year, Canalta Hotels announced plans to build a new six-storey hotel on formerly city-owned land. Two smaller developments at the site are well advanced, and the hotel should begin soon.

On Monday, Blair Christianson, Canalta’s Alberta sales manager, tells the News that work will proceed quickly this summer.

“We would like to move the construction of the Hilton hotel forward as quickly as we can,” he wrote in an email. “We now have finalized drawings which are ready for permitting.”

This week, framers were on site at a future hotel proposed by local investors group, Sun City Hotels. The 120-room Best Western Premier and Executive Residency hotel is located on Stober Way.

Next door, foundations went in last fall for a 110-room Marriott Towne Place Suites being built by the Braemar Group. That company already owns the Comfort Inn on Trans-Canada Way.

At Strachan Corner, the site of the former Walmart Supercentre being revamped by Brentwood Developments, major exterior construction appears to be complete on its anchor tenant, a new Save-on-Foods grocery outlet that was slated to open this spring.

Save-on-Foods officials told the News on Monday they are awaiting the final handover of the site from construction companies. No opening date or timeline was given.

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