A proper home for a visitor centre and a revitalization of Centre Square Mall may finally be on the horizon.
City administration is proposing to relocate the visitor centre from its temporary site in the downstairs boardroom of city hall to Centre Square Mall.
NNSL file photo
City hall has hosted a place to greet tourists and visitors to the community since the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre was forced to close in May 2017 due to safety concerns with the structure.
During Monday’s governance and priorities committee meeting, council heard that the city is now planning to move forward with an application in January to the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) for $400,000 in funding as well as a $161,000 application for operations and maintenance funding from the GNWT Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
City staff are recommending the use of $125,000 from council’s downtown improvement reserve to facilitate the move. Councillors will have a chance to vote on the proposal at a regular council meeting on Jan. 11.
NNSL file photo
The city says there is expected to be $833,000 in the downtown reserve as of Dec. 31.
An operating model and who will run the visitor centre are yet to be decided. Those decisions are expected to be made after the services are moved.
"In the end, it would mean that we would issue (a request for proposals), to have someone operate the visitor centre out of the location so that the city is not in charge of running it," said Kerry Penney director of economic development and strategy. "But, at this point, we're not able to do that. If all goes according to plan, we would like to be able to relocate the visitor centre and then at the same time or shortly thereafter, be able to issue the RFP."
Downtown revitalization
The city sees a number of benefits to the project beyond finally having a permanent site for visitors services again, namely in revitalizing the downtown and providing a reason for the public to use the central district.
“We want to seek a central public location that is easily accessible in the heart of downtown and which can play a role in the rejuvenation of this area,” explained corporate services director Sharolynn Woodward during Monday’s meeting. “This CanNor funding does require a matching cost component, typically the split is 80-20. So we are recommending that the 20 (per cent) – the city's share of this cost – come from the downtown improvement reserve.”
The city also wants to use its downstairs boardroom again. According to the city memo, "extended use of this space (for visitor services) has negatively impacted city operations."
Preparation work to ensure heating, accessibility and other base upgrades at he mall are already underway by Slate Asset Management, which owns part of Centre Square Mall, council heard.
Arts and culture
Penney said an important part of the project will include a public space where Northern arts and culture can be displayed and artists can be promoted.
In the past, the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre was a location for artists' sales.
"We envision this as non-commercial art space and it's more so that residents can see some of the art that is available within the city and be directed to the proper place to purchase it if they so wish," Penney said. "It's not our intention to be selling things at this location."
Council expressed enthusiasm toward the idea. Coun. Steve Payne recalled brighter days with the mall when he arrived in Yellowknife 25 years ago and he hopes the city can help make the location more appealing by being an anchor tenant. If the plans work out, he said it will provide a tourism facility that the community can be proud of while giving the area a boost.
"I'm pretty excited about this," Payne said. "Hopefully years from now we can look back on this moment and say that us bringing forward the motion to put this building in the Centre Square Mall was the kicker to get that building going again."