Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

City finds buyer for old downtown fire hall

Mar 7, 2022 | 10:00 PM

City council has approved an offer to buy the old fire hall downtown.

The city will sell the building on the corner of 102 Avenue and 101 Street to Hi Tech Leasing for $1 million, subject to conditions. The company is involved in the distillery business among other things.

Additional conditions besides the usual ones in real estate transactions include the buyer getting a development permit for a facility that would involve the manufacturing and storage of spirits by April 22. The seller would also agree to match city grants of $25,000 for facade improvements to the building.

Mayor Jackie Clayton says adding new businesses downtown is a priority for council.

“As we all know, we have put about $44 million dollars already into the downtown core, so seeing new businesses pop up is a great outcome because that was the goal of this investment.”

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“We wanted to see outcomes from that investment and so seeing the fire hall refurbished into something that adds a new amenity, a new opportunity downtown, is a great sign of what’s to come.”

Clayton says she is glad to see businesses move into other parts of Grande Prairie’s downtown.

“We know the central district downtown is fairly large and seeing new businesses pop up throughout that district is exciting.”

The property was listed for sale about a month ago.

A previous attempt to sell the building ended four years ago when the council that was in place at the time voted to cancel a sale, saying it wasn’t in the city’s best interest to do things like move city departments. Two buyers had come forward.

The Community Social Development department currently housed in the old fire hall can now move into the Coordinated Care Campus, located in the former Stonebridge Hotel. Technical Search and Rescue and the Parks Department can move into a new Parks building on the south end.