Shopping village looking at spring for construction

The much anticipated shopping village on Highway 16 may get it's footprint into the ground in the Spring of 2007. Royop Properties who are proposing the project at the old BChydroo site, are hoping to get things under way next year.

With plans to submit the recently purchased bit of land for rezoning, the wheels may finally get put in motion to send Prince Rupert off to its retail nirvana. And while they won't confirm any retail participation at the moment, the impression seems to be that Canadian Tire will be one of the sought after major tenants of the village. The specs on their website call for a shopping village covering 13.7 acres, with a total building area of 3.1 acres and parking for 792 vehicles.

The Northern view had the details on the progress of the project on its website on Wednesday morning.

Developers hopeful for spring construction start
By Shaun Thomas
The Northern View
Sep 20 2006

Royop, the company proposing to construct a large retail development on the old B.C. Hydro grounds, continues to work with the city to complete the rezoning of the additional nine acres of land they acquired in July, but the company's Vice President of Development Melvin Foht said residents shouldn't expect to see work begin on the facility anytime soon.

"I was in Prince Rupert on September 6 and met with City Manager Gord Howie. We went through a number of things related to the project, I brought them up to date on the plans and we have the transportation studies for the site underway. The formal application for rezoning hasn't gone in to the city yet, but it should be going in shortly."

"We hope to have the rezoning complete by the end of the year. Council has to do their procedure and we understand that-By next spring I hope to be able to start construction on the development site itself," he added.

And while the proposed outline for a Canadian Tire store appears on the development plan on the company's website and has been there for some time, Foht said nothing has been finalized regarding the stores that would be coming to the city when the development opens.

"That is not confirmed, I can assure you. It is no secret that we are looking at them and they have been looking to Prince Rupert for a long time, so hopefully we can make something happen," he said.