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Coalbanks plan a win for city |
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Written by Lethbridge Herald
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Wednesday, 24 June 2009 |
Plans to convert another old downtown hotel into an affordable housing complex stands to be a winning proposition on several counts.
First of all, it will help ease the city’s severe shortage of affordable housing. Secondly, it stands to further improve the 5 Street South environment that has for years been hampered with a negative image.
The city has granted a development permit to allow for conversion of the Coalbanks Inn into a 28-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail space. The project will further revitalize the area by drawing new business to the downtown as well as encouraging more downtown dwellers.
It’s a win-win-win situation for Lethbridge. A revamped Coalbanks Inn will serve people in need of living accommodations, it will be an economic boost to the downtown core and it reinvents an historic old building.
The Coalbanks Inn has roots that go deep into Lethbridge history. It dates back to at least 1904 when it was then known as the Dallas Hotel, a name it carried for decades.
Like the Alec Arms just down the street, the Coalbanks Inn is a treasured piece of the city’s heritage and giving it a facelift and a new role will enable it to remain a viable piece of the downtown core, just as many other historical downtown buildings have done. It’s another example of downtown developers choosing to recycle old buildings and thereby maintain the vintage tone of the city’s core.
Revamping the Coalbanks Inn will also enhance the downtown by removing the problems associated with those who frequent the hotel’s tavern. Downtown BRZ director Ted Stilson anticipates that removing the bar and modernizing the living spaces will have the same effect that refurbishing the Alec Arms had in helping to change the area’s dynamics.
The affordable housing aspect is big, too, marking another step toward the city’s goal of creating 1,000 new units by 2014. Just two years ago, a local research team told city council that access to affordable housing was at a critical stage in Lethbridge. The lead researcher, Suzanne Petryshyn of the University of Lethbridge, said at the time the city needed at least 1,500 affordable units over the next three years just to scratch the surface of the problem.
That recommended pace isn’t being met but measures are being taken to address the problem. More importantly, between the projects at the Alec Arms and the Coalbanks, more people will be living in the downtown core, which means potential customers for the stores and services located in the area. It can’t help but enhance the vibrancy of the downtown.
And that’s good for Lethbridge as a whole.
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