The Grande Prairie Public School District is facing a space crunch in its head office and the City has agreed to work with it to find a solution.
Mayor Bill Given explains GPPSD responded to a Request for Information from the City to develop on the York Hotel/Germain Park site.
“Their needs are for approximately 30,000 square feet of space for their school board central office use, and we see that as an opportunity to leverage their need for a central office and combine that with additional uses.”
Those could be anything from residential to commercial, based on interest from the private sector.
The land has been vacant since the City purchased the lot and knocked down the hotel on it, and previous development plans fell through.
Given argues the project could help revitalize the downtown area.
“I think there’s a great opportunity to meet the community’s needs and desires for downtown, the school board’s needs for administrative office space, as well as provide a great opportunity for the private sector to be involved and ultimately to have a good financial return.”
At this point, the City’s does not have any financial obligations.
The old school board office would likely be incorporated in the Montrose Cultural Centre.