City officials are joining together to ask the community to ensure the nearly-completed Towne Square becomes a successful venture.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
In a show of solidarity, city elected officials and administrators are jointly asking the community to help make the Towne Square a success.
Mayor Linnsie Clark – who made the project an election and recent budget issue – the head of Invest Medicine Hat and administrators now in charge of the lot across from city hall held media availability Thursday to discuss next steps for the area described as flexible space for events and festivals.
“I know that I’ve said some things about the project and whether the grants should have been used there, but it’s built and all of council is behind this,” said Clark. “We’re trying to find opportunity in which the downtown community is contributing to that space, and not just the downtown community, but we’re all partners with the same goal of driving more activity downtown.
“We want to make sure that it’s to the benefit of downtown business owners.”
That could include a number of traditional events and festivals, plus food trucks, and an array of new offerings, be they street hockey tournaments, music performances, fundraisers, or bazaar-style markets.
A budget amendment will be presented to council Monday to set the annual budget at the square at $100,000, though administrators are looking to recover those costs entirely with revenue from the site.
That will partly come from stable parking revenue at the site (59 stalls are available for monthly and daily rates), as well as event space rentals, market stall rentals or lease of the containers on the site.
The rental plan for containers may also be flexible, said Mastel, adding administrators will now formalize interest from companies and non-profit groups which have already expressed interest, and any new groups coming forward.
The space will be operated by the city’s community development office, the same group that operates the Esplanade and Co-op Place.
That could potentially lead to performances at the site, or participation in larger events, such as Artwalk, multi-venue festivals like JazzFest or Folk Music Club, or partnership with business community events, such as continuation of the former City Centre Development Agency’s Midnight Madness.
Public services managing director Brian Mastel said his division is working on details.
“There have been a lot of conversations that have been taking place, but we’re now at a launching spot where we can more actively pick that up and start making plans,” he said, noting new proposals are welcome and rental rates are still being determined. “We’re comfortable with working with groups on staging events, and we’ve had some very interested people on the commercial spaces and others who are intrigued and want to know more.
“We’re going to get it set up for activity this spring and summer and we’re quite excited about it.”
Work to improve the long vacant former car lot had been a priority for council since marketing it for development was shelved in 2016. At one point that involved a simple repaving of the site, but it was expanded when COVID-stimulus construction grants became available in 2020. Recently, officials stated nearly all of the $2.9-million project is covered by grant funding.
Investment Medicine Hat head Eric Van Enk said the lot had fallen into disrepair over 40 years since its purchase by the city, and he hopes the change will help bring about a better opinion.
“Something really had to be done, and we used grant money and tried to revitalize what really is a key corner in downtown Medicine Hat,” he said. “There will be some learnings (in operations) but it is a much safer, more vibrant corner in Medicine Hat today.”
Administrators say they have been in discussions with neighbouring businesses about parking or event rentals, as well as with police and bylaw officers about monitoring the site.
