SUPPLIED IMAGE An artist's rendering shows the proposed "Iron River" hotel that is planned for a long-vacant lot in downtown Medicine Hat. An application for the relevant development permit for 603 First St. S.E. will be brought up at today's municipal planning commission meeting at Medicine Hat city council chambers.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
The site plan and initial building design for a boutique hotel in downtown Medicine Hat will be presented to today’s meeting of the municipal planning commission.
“The Iron River” hotel would be built on parking lot kitty corner from city hall with 80-suites in the five-storey structure, a cafe and wine cellar, and two commercial spaces leading to a patio facing Veteran Memorial Riverside park and Finlay Bridge.
The outside facing is initially planned to be brick and modern trim overtop a concrete structure, said the developer.
“We wanted it to speak to that early history industrial identity of Medicine Hat and celebrate that with a modern design,” Aaron Burghardt, of Clay District Developments, told the News. “What we’ve accomplished is a solid addition to First Street, the downtown and the river valley that will stand for decades to come.”
The building plans, drawn up by local office FWBA Architects, will be presented to the commission at its 2:30 p.m. meeting. Since the land is zoned “direct control” the application will have to be approved by a direct vote by city council.
The permit application also states 41 on-site parking stalls would remain on the eastern portion of the current city parking lot, which currently has 74 stalls.
The municipal land company was bought by the city in the early 1980s, but it had become a controversial topic as few private-sector offers since met the general requirement of a substantial commercial or residential building.
Last spring and summer council extended a newly available tax abatement strategy, worth up to $400,000 over four years, to help clean up the one-time car lot, and at the same time accepted a $364,000 conditional sales offer.
There was no immediate construction schedule available.
Aberdeen Street
A residential lot near Aberdeen Street and Fourth Avenue SE is the subject of a land-use change application that will be introduced this afternoon.
Changing to mixed-use designation would allow owners of 390 Aberdeen St. – which sits next to the Canadian Red Cross Offices – to convert the residence into a counselling office.
Three corners of the nearby intersection are zoned for neighbourhood commercial use.
The building, which would remain, has sat empty for several years following the previous owner’s death and its earlier seizure by the Alberta Sheriffs as a nuisance property.
As rezoning is required, the matter will be likely forwarded to city council for a public hearing.
