After a two year hiatus, things are ready to get moving again with the Memorial Marketplace Project.
Hilary Murphy of Taskforce Engineering appeared on Tuesday afternoon in front of Belleville council to provide an update on the COVID delayed project that would see the former Memorial Arena become a gathering space in the downtown core.
She said the pause allowed Taskforce to work through some design challenges such as the lack of space for loading and garbage because the building is landlocked on two sides.
There was also environmental contamination discovered by the city on both the Legion and Memorial sites.
“If the development of these lands were to be residential, which is considered a more sensitive land use from an environmental perspective,” Murphy said. “The site would then require a record of site condition and quite possibly remediation.”
This led to the determination that the Legion building is integral to the project and the residential component of the proposed development would need to be scrapped.
There are currently two design projects in the works running parallel to each other until Taskforce can determine which of the two to move forward with.
The first is very similar to the original proposal, a fully developed marketplace which will blend a variety of retailers and food services with a parking area where the legion building currently stands.
The second concept is a boutique hotel which would be integrated into the Memorial redevelopment.
“We have held meetings with a well-known international hotel brand that operates boutique style hotels,” said Murphy. “This design concept is in its early stages of development, however, if it appears to be gaining traction we will make a presentation to council to better communicate these plans and how they would integrate with the Memorial redevelopment to make sure it fits with Council’s vision for the Memorial redevelopment.”
The Legion property has not yet changed hands and that means no work can be started on the sites until that is done says Murphy, no later than February 2023.
Another significant challenge facing Taskforce is the increased costs associated with construction, anywhere between 30% and 40%.
“We are working through new proponents for both concepts which will factor in to how we move forward,” Murphy told councillors. “There is no value in us building something that isn’t affordable for businesses or retailers to be successful.”
Despite the challenges, Murphy says they are finally in a position to move this project forward.
“Either design concept will be very positive for the community and specifically the downtown core,” she said.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk said the concepts are very exciting and he is glad the marketplace is still going forward and sought some more information on where the city is in regards to the Legion property.
Director of Corporate Services Matt MacDonald said they are currently working with the Legion to find them a suitable home for their operations and have a couple of sites in mind that seem positive.
Murphy did note a public open house would be held at a later date to showcase their ideas and get some feedback from residents in regards to the latest design concepts.
