Waterfront, downtown at top of list for new director of Land Development and Real Estate

Perret says there are exciting things happening there but in the early stage, there’s not much he can say right now.

“I think our waterfront is an underutilized asset so we want to see and put some concepts together on how that’s going to developed out and how it’s going to spin off into the downtown and in tourism and all the rest of it,” he said “Ultimately we want to see a vibrant downtown and energy downtown. A place where we can hold events, a place for people, it’s more walkable, we want to see more tourism come down to the area so we need something that’s going to trigger and bring that investment to the core. It’s a bigger plan in concept but we want to bring out some stuff that will kick it off.”

Overall, Perret wants to see a more collaborative approach between the City of Medicine Hat and private enterprise, and that in the past the two were sometimes competing with each other.

“And then ultimately my position is making sure we have the perfect strategic land asset for them when they make the decision to move to our community,” he said.

That same more-partnership-less-competition approach will be brought to residential development as well, said Perret. He said there are a number of new residential subdivisions on the books in the planning stages but nothing is imminent.

“Our focus right now is going to be economic development, bringing that to the city, creating jobs and that will push out to residential development,” he said.

Perret comes to the city with 20 years’ experience as an accredited appraiser and business valuator working with companies across North America.

by Chris Brown

Waterfront, downtown at top of list for new director of Land Development and Real Estate

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