By James Wood

Former Crescent Heights Safeway building conditionally purchased

Apr 27, 2017 | 12:24 PM

The old Safeway building in Crescent Heights may soon have a new owner.

Towards the end of February, it had been reported by CHAT News that Avison Young, the Calgary company listing the building for sale, were in negotiations about a potential purchase of the site by an unnamed group.

The store had closed in December 2014, one of 50 stores closed due to slow sales by Empire Company, the parent company which owns both Sobeys and Safeway.

The location opened in 1960, and employed 37 people at the time of closure.

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At the time of the report, a “for sale” sign in the building had not been visible for several days.

However, Bruce Bynoe of Avison Young has now confirmed that the building has been conditionally purchased.

While Bynoe could not give any details about the identity of the buyers, he said the $1.9 million asking price of the former store had not changed, and that a key deadline in the conditional purchase would be May 15, 2017.

Shontel Lessard, the owner of a bakery across the street from the old building, said she had seen increased activity at the property since late last week. The activity ranged from lights being switched on inside to security guards being posted at the property, as well as visitors heading in and out of the structure.

She said she is curious to see what ends up happening to the property.

“It would be nice to see another type of grocery store go in there,” said Lessard.

“For one, it would make it easier for us, if we were out of something I could just go across the street instead of getting in my vehicle.”

Lessard indicated a store offering variety in the space would also be useful.

“It gives people in Crescent Heights the option, rather than going all the way to Southridge to pick something up,” said Lessard.

Kent Snyder, the General Manager of Planning & Development Services for the City of Medicine Hat, said that while he didn’t want to see vacant buildings, development comes in cycles and it can take time for uses to be found for vacant properties.

However, he said the area in which the building is located has a “neighbourhood feel” which made it more urgent to fill vacant storefront property. As for what could be located in the old Safeway building, Snyder indicated that his department would be open to uses allowed under current zoning, as well as other that could require zoning changes.

“It’s a larger space, I think there could be a number of uses,” said Snyder.

“Perhaps it gets divided up a bit, into a few bays. That seems rather typical for larger spaces.”

If a use fit under the current regulations for the building, Snyder said the turnaround time would about a week to two weeks from a submission being received to a permit being issued.

As of yet, no application has been submitted to Snyder’s department related to the property.

A Sobey’s spokesperson also said the company had nothing to say publicly about the property.