The old HY Louie building (former IGA grocery store) in Barriere is set to be renovated into modern, commercial units for lease.
Barriere Mayor Ward Stamer says the district bought the old HY Louie grocery store building back in 2013, with the initial plans to make it into a municipal hall.
“We took everything out of it, stripped it down, and made sure there wasn’t any asbestos. It is basically a shell, the building is still intact, it’s got a brand new roof, and to rebuild it now, would probably cost $2.5 million to $3 million.”
However, following a recent $1-million grant from BC’s Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program, Stamer says the scope has changed, and will now allow the building to be refurbished into commercial spaces for lease.
He suggests there are a few organizations and businesses that have already voiced their interest.
“We’re hoping that the Chamber of Commerce, where they’re in an existing building, they want to be able to grow, there’s an opportunity for them to be in that building,” explained Stamer.
“There are also a couple of other commercial clients that, I can’t tell you right now who they are, but there are significant players in our community willing to go there and there will be additional space for other users as well.”
As for when the units will be ready for lease, Stamer says he is cautiously optimistic it will be complete before the snow flies.
“Which is a fairly ambitious project, as you know, there’s a lot of supply chain issues throughout the world when it comes to heating and plumbing and electrical and those kinds of things,” he explained. “But if we can’t have it by the time the snow flies, it will certainly be operational by next spring.”
Stamer says this project is also part of Barriere’s downtown revitalization plan, which he hopes will encourage people to densify the downtown area.
“We’ve been trying to make significant strides in our sewer system as well, to be able to densify and we’re quite confident with another round of grant applications that we’ve applied for, plus with money we already have saved in the bank, we will be able to make those necessary improvements that will encourage people to densify the downtown area.”
If they can secure a second round of grant funding, Stamer says they would work to triple the capacity of the sewer system, which he explains would further help densify the downtown core.
