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Dramatic plans in store downtown |
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Written by Gerald Gauthier, Lethbridge Herald
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Monday, February 22 2010, 10:22 PM |
In what promises to be a major downtown makeover, city council has enthusiastically endorsed a plan to build two major new arts facilities along a one-block plaza just east of Galt Gardens.
The two-phase plan is to begin with a new $12.6-million community arts centre on the eastern portion of the former IGA site by 2012, followed in subsequent years by a neighbouring performing arts centre. The latter would extend westward into the park, resulting in the closure of what is now a section of 7 Street South and creating a downtown arts district.
Local arts community leaders are lauding council’s decision, which was unanimous.
“It’s a visionary decision, I think, that council has taken that will ensure our vibrant arts community continues to grow over the next 50, 60, 70 years,” said Suzanne Lint, executive director of the Allied Arts Council.
“It’s just wonderful,” she said, adding the project will not only bring together various art groups but also will create much greater potential for attracting cultural tourism.
“We are truly setting up what we would consider a cultural corridor. That’s something that has come out strongly as being a key factor in rejuvenating downtown (areas),” she said.
The City of Lethbridge bought the vacant grocery store property late last year for $4.4 million with an eye to using it for a future civic facility. The property, which encompasses the entire 700 block of 3 Avenue South, has been vacant since the end of May last year when the city’s only remaining downtown grocery store closed.
“This community is so blessed to have a council that has taken the bull by the horns, if you will, and decided that this particular site will be made available to our community for such a wonderful project,” said George Evelyn, spokesman for the performing arts steering committee.
“I think it’s a very smart idea,” he said.
Tenders for the 27,000-square-foot community arts centre are to be sought in 2011, and construction is to be complete sometime in 2012. Funding of the project is to be shared by the city, the province and the federal government.
The city is eligible to recoup the cost of the land purchase from provincial grants.
Council members opted against renovating and expanding the Bowman Arts Centre in the 800 block of 5 Avenue South. The aging facility could eventually be used as a city hall annex or to house local community groups.
“We had an ideal site, and we knew there were benefits of having them together. The benefits of having them together are more than having them separate,” said Ald. Barbara Lacey, one of two council representatives on the performing arts committee. “ We saw this as a real long-term opportunity for the city.”
The performing arts centre is still in the early planning stage and is likely at least a decade away. No provincial or federal funding has been secured yet for the project.
Until it is built, parking for the community arts centre will be available on the western portion of the property. Longer-term plans call for one or more parkades within a couple of blocks once the theatre facility is built.
City-owned property along the 400 block of 1 Avenue South had also been considered as a potential site for a new performing arts centre, but it was ruled out because of the logistics of building it around the Chinese National Building, which backs onto the property.
Unless the city identifies any other potential civic uses for the property, it will likely be put up for sale.
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