Excavators level the lot at 2180 15th Avenue, S.E., to make way for a new carwash and convenience store on Friday afternoon. The lot has been vacant since 2008 when the shuttered buildings of Maser's Lumber burned to the ground. -- News photo Collin Gallant,
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
A development group from Lethbridge has begun putting the former Maser’s lumber lot on Dunmore Road to a fresh start.
Excavation began this week at the high-profile, but long vacant lot towards building a large, automatic car wash that will also include other leasable commercial space and the potential for a convenience store pad development.
The high traffic location will become the third location of Mint Smart Wash, an “express” car wash with the potential for 30 stalls.
“The location feels very similar to Lethbridge,” Mint owner Shad Nelson told the News.
“Lots of side roads, and a lot of people looking for a car wash.”
His company is part of an investors group that builds facilities with car wash as a central tenant.
This first such development happened in Lethbridge, in 2015 and two years later another was opened in Billings, Mont.
“We are looking to expand further out in Western Canada,” said Nelson, stating that construction is generally slated to take about eight months, meaning a potential opening next spring.
The lot housed the Maser’s Lumber lot for decades until the vacant buildings burned in a spectacular fire in the spring of 2008 which was ruled the accidental fault of a teenager trespassing on the property.
Several years later the News was aware of a court action between various members of the Maser family to dissolve the corporation that was created to bequeath shares in the building between the descendants of lumber yard owners, George and Harvey Maser.
A national real estate firm began advertising lease potential in a development there last year, though local agents handling the sale told the News a deal wasn’t imminent.
This winter, the upcoming work plan for the city’s utility department briefly described the need to move power lines on the lot for future development.
