The City of Grande Prairie has found another buyer for the former York Hotel and Germain Park land. The community growth committee has recommended council award the RFP to Oladapo Maxwell and Associates for $3,000.
While the two lots are assessed at nearly $626,000 and $298,000 respectively, Land and Economic Development Brian Glavin explains there was no reserve price in their request for proposals. The group still had the highest ranked submission out of the two received.
Based on a projected assessment value of $11.6 million, the city would also get roughly $137,000 in annual tax revenue, which would pay off the land in around 6.5 years. The other proposal came from Accredited Supportive Living Services Limited.
The developer wants to build three buildings in total, with two on the former York Hotel lot and one on 100th Avenue where Germain Park used to be. That building would be commercial use on the ground floor, feature a restaurant on the second level, and then include two top levels of residential suites. The other two on 101st Avenue would also have commercial spots on the bottom level, with three floors of apartments and condos above.
General manager of TurCon Construction Group and project lead with Design Works Engineering Travis Miller says his client already owns an apartment building in the area and wants to increase the viability of the downtown core with a more high end development.
“I think anybody who’s been in Grande Prairie for an extended period of time knows that the downtown core has been slowly declining, but the City is putting so much money into the downtown core that it’s becoming a very upbeat part of our city.”
The plans include 64 residential units and 22,706 square feet of commercial space. The goal is to phase construction over three years, starting in September on the first building on the western half of the former hotel site. Miller says there’s also plans for parking spaces.
“We realize that with residential and with the sheer amount of people we’re hoping will occupy the space, we have included 64 parking spots as it stands and we’ll hopefully add more depending on how the final design comes in.”
Both lots have sat empty for several years and two previous development plans fell through. One was for a hotel/commercial building, but the company couldn’t find a hotel partner. The Grande Prairie Public School District also proposed building a new office tower there, but the cost ended up being double what they’d budgeted.
Members of the city committee expressed at their Tuesday meeting that this proposal fits their vision for the area and could be successful. When the RFP was issued in January, they had hoped to see a four-storey, mixed use building fill the space. Miller agrees, saying they want to give the downtown core a fresh and new look.
“That is the theme of everything that we’re trying to do. When you see the buildings and the renderings… you’ll see a four-storey building, flat roof, which is unique – we don’t have necessarily many of those buildings downtown – a little bit more artistical outliers around the building, as well as the mixed use; we don’t have many mixed use spaces.”
City council will make a decision on the project at its next meeting.
