This year, the Town of St. Paul has seen a number of new developments get started and is seeing an overall increase in development, compared to last year.
Reports on the development in town are done on a yearly basis. One of the most reliable measures by which the development can be assessed is by the amount of permits issued over the course of the year.
From January to July this year, developments in St. Paul have been as follows: 26 commercial development permits have been issued; two permits were issued for industrial development; and one for institutional development.
Residential development for single-family dwellings includes eight permits, and residential development for duplexes includes one permit. Residential improvements, which include additions, basement developments and other forms of extensive work, came to 12 permits and there were six residential garage permits issued.
“There is also a lot of stuff coming up,” says Jim Laidley, the development and planning officer with the Town of St. Paul. “There’s a building going up beside the Subway location in town, called the Conference Pack. There’s a media room, and some other board rooms.”
The Conference Pack is currently under construction by Germain Brothers, the contractor holding for the permit. The building will be used for business, educational, and logistical purposes, utilizing technology to serve as a center for education, training, business, and communications, and social functions in the community, according to Bode Akindele, president of The Incubator International.
Laidley explains that this year shows potential to exceed last year’s total amount of developments.
“It’s likely we’ll see more development than last year, since there are still five months to go this year,” he says, adding, the total dollar value behind the issued permits is already at $16 million, and last year’s total was $18 million.
“You hope to see development increase, particularly when it’s building the downtown core. It’s good to see that.”
On main street, work is being done on the old medical centre location. The renovations are the first stages of a relocation of the offices of Xtreme Oilfield Technology.
“We’re having work done the old medical centre location, across from the post office on main street, in order to move our offices there, once the renovation’s complete,” says Eugene Labant, an owner of Xtreme.
“It's going be our main office. We’re moving for the sake of an expansion, since we need more room for our offices. Right now part of the work is in the drywall-stage,” he adds.
Labant explains that things are going well, and progressing according to plan. The business hopes to have all the work on the building complete by Nov. 1.
Another noticeable development going on is at Zarowny Motors. The business has moved its sales department and a number of its vehicles to the old bingo hall on the west end of town. This temporary relocation has been done to accommodate renovations and an addition that is being done at the dealership.
“We’re just about to start work on an addition and renovation on existing showroom,” says Brent Sandmeyer, a controller with Zarowny Motors.
He adds, “It’s approximately a 55 by 38 foot addition, and a complete renovation on the existing showroom and front service counter. It's only a temporary move for our sales department until the work is done.”
Value Drug Mart will also be increasing its presence on St. Paul, with a new location opening up on the east end of town, near the Wellness Centre. Construction began in July, and will be finished for the opening pegged at mid-to-late 2014.
“The Town of St. Paul is growing, and to keep up with the needs of our customers we needed to expand into a bigger space to accommodate the demand,” says Tarick Taha, a representative for Value Drug Mart in Edmonton.
“It made perfect sense to us choose a location next to the Wellness Centre with all the future plans that the town has for that area.”
