By Leah Murray

More businesses investing in North Railway properties

Jan 17, 2018 | 5:01 PM

MEDICINE HAT – New life is being breathed into North Railway Street in Medicine Hat.

For several years many buildings sat empty and in a state of disrepair, but in the last few years the empty stores have been filling up as people start to reinvest.

The Heartwood Cafe is celebrating it’s fifth anniversary this year in a new location. The business re-opened on North Railway on Tuesday.

Owner Megan Bedinger says they moved in to what used to be Side Tracked Pub and have put around $40,000 into renovating the space into an eclectic cafe.

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“We just wanted a store front with parking and that was just a little bit easier for people to find,” Bedinger explained.

A grant from the City’s Downtown Development Incentive program helped them pay for the renovations to the outside of the building.

Peggy Gizen and her husband started investing in the area in 2005. They bought a condemned building on North Railway near Rotary Park.

“If we go back to 2005, there were a lot of vacant buildings on this side [of the tracks] and that’s not the case anymore, it’s great to see,” said Gizen.

It took several years and over $100,000, but the Gizens renovated the building and now rent out the main floor for events, meetings and parties.

Around a year ago Gizen said they purchased the building beside it and have put another $100,000 into renovating the six short term rental suites.

The couple also used some DDI money to put up signage on their buildings.

“The grants help, they’re not huge, but they definitely help,” Gizen said.

The city says several businesses in the area have taken advantage of the grants in order to help with the cost of renovations and upgrades. Six businesses received the DDI funding in 2017.

“We’re seeing a lot of activity, a lot of energy down there,” said development and infrastructure commissioner Stan Schwartzenberger. “It’s really great to see, because sometimes that’s not the first place that comes to mind when you think about the downtown, but it’s a big part of it.”

The 106 year old Cecil building is also in the process of a major overhaul.

They’ve opened Hat’s pizza which includes a darts lounge, some plans are in the works for more upgrades to the bar and in the last nine months tens of thousands of dollars has been put into repairing the rooms in the old hotel.

“We have stripped the building upstairs,” said general manager Todd Sweeney. “There’s not a stick of furniture here that was here before hand, it’s all new beds all new furniture up in the rooms, we’re slowly repairing [them].”

Sweeney said it’s expected the cost to re-do the whole hotel will cost $1.5 million and take around two years to do.

Meanwhile he said they are now working with organizations like the Women’s Shelter and even the Community Housing Society to help those who are down on their luck, get back on their feet.

“We have seen people come in on support, and are now off support and working themselves,” he explained.

The businesses say they are excited about all the time and effort being invested into rejuvenating the area.

“It definitely has potential to grow and I think we’re a good business to be down here,” said Bedinger. “I think it will attract other people, hopefully.”

“There’s a lot of new updated things here that are as fancy as they come,” said Sweeney. “People just need to come out and see it.”