For Rupertites a full tank of gas and day in Terrace will still be required to enjoy the wonders of Wal Mart, Canadian Tire, Staples and the other big chains currently set up and hour and a half down the road.
Three years ago, the Royop shopping development was being hailed as a sign of the dawning of a new era for Prince Rupert and proved to be one of the more controversial of issues during the 2005 municipal election campaign. The Mayor had gone so far during that campaign as declaring himself pro big box and suggesting if we wanted to slow things down we should elect a council that would travel that path, in the end the city's sluggish economy did the job on its own.
Since that election and the subsequent false starts on the shopping village, the economic landscape in Prince Rupert has changed and the prospects of the Highway 16 shopping village have grown dimmer, as Royop found that the cost of developing the tracts of land at the old BC Hydro site just wasn’t proving to be a financially viable project at the moment.
The Mayors ambitious timeline of a groundbreaking of last year has come and gone and now Royop has officially said that the project is on indefinite suspension, the cost of the prep work proving to be too much for the investors to deliver at this time.
The impression left by an interview given to the Northern View is that most likely the project as envisioned three years ago is finished, with only the potential of individual stores eventually setting up shop here still on the back burner.
The key word in their carefully worded explanation as to why the project has been shut down, was the word “economic criteria” and with the current economic malaise in the Rupert area continuing, it seems that those with the money to develop are choosing to hold onto it until things change for this Port city.
Three years ago, the Royop shopping development was being hailed as a sign of the dawning of a new era for Prince Rupert and proved to be one of the more controversial of issues during the 2005 municipal election campaign. The Mayor had gone so far during that campaign as declaring himself pro big box and suggesting if we wanted to slow things down we should elect a council that would travel that path, in the end the city's sluggish economy did the job on its own.
Since that election and the subsequent false starts on the shopping village, the economic landscape in Prince Rupert has changed and the prospects of the Highway 16 shopping village have grown dimmer, as Royop found that the cost of developing the tracts of land at the old BC Hydro site just wasn’t proving to be a financially viable project at the moment.
The Mayors ambitious timeline of a groundbreaking of last year has come and gone and now Royop has officially said that the project is on indefinite suspension, the cost of the prep work proving to be too much for the investors to deliver at this time.
The impression left by an interview given to the Northern View is that most likely the project as envisioned three years ago is finished, with only the potential of individual stores eventually setting up shop here still on the back burner.
The key word in their carefully worded explanation as to why the project has been shut down, was the word “economic criteria” and with the current economic malaise in the Rupert area continuing, it seems that those with the money to develop are choosing to hold onto it until things change for this Port city.
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Here's a small list of some of the Podunkian stories on the shopping development over the last few years.
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November 2005 No Name dropping in Podunk
April 2006 The slow path to Big Box Heaven
September 2006 Shopping village looking at spring for construction
December 2006 Shopping village opponents building their case
February 2007 The Patient Pigs of Podunk
Prince Rupert retail development put on the shelf
By Shaun Thomas
By Shaun Thomas
The Northern View
May 06, 2008
Royop, the firm behind the proposed retail development on the old B.C. Hydro site in Prince Rupert, has confirmed that the project has been shelved indefinitely.
Royop, the firm behind the proposed retail development on the old B.C. Hydro site in Prince Rupert, has confirmed that the project has been shelved indefinitely.
"The real issue is the cost to prep the site. To take a site that is treed and is either muskeg or granite, and create a flat site to develop on is extremely expensive and is more expensive than the interested parties are willing to pay," said Royop Vice-president of Development Melvin Foht.
"We've spent a lot of time and, frankly, our finances to unfortunately come to this conclusion and it is not something we came to lightly...I'm disappointed that we couldn't bring anything to fruition there."
Plans for the retail development had included 220,000 square feet of retail space in nine buildings, and the city had already gone through all of the rezoning requirements for the 25 acres. While praising the work of the city, Foht said the company has spoken with officials in regards to other sites, but they were either too small or too expensive to create a similar development.
However, he said that large retailers remain interested in coming to Prince Rupert, and that the door remains open in the future.
"We've been involved in Prince Rupert for close to three years and we've really done a lot of work to search out sites that would attract national and international retailers like a Wal Mart or a Canadian Tire," he said, noting that Royop is working with Canadian Tire to develop locations in other communities at the moment.
"If we can find a site that meets the criteria, including the economic criteria, then we would be interesting in pursuing that."
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