A “For Sale” sign will soon go up now that the Union Hotel has come down.
The city will be working with Re/Max All Pro Realty to market the property, which is actually three vacant lots consolidated into one, uniformly zoned “C1,” or general commercial, to provide a broad mix of uses such as professional offices and retail businesses.
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“This is being done now, and a sign should be placed on the property in the next week or so,” Chief Administrative Officer David Perehudoff said. “It is hoped that ReMax will look to connect with potential purchasers that are able to maximize the use of this strategic piece of property.”
Until such time a proposal comes forward, the city will use the land for paid parking.
“In the interim, the property will be made available for parking,” Perehudoff confirmed. “The city will derive revenue and be able to accommodate people seeking monthly parking during the transition.”
The aesthetic of the exposed brick at 1160 Cedar Avenue is another detail now being laid to rest.
“The city is also working with the adjacent building owner and will deal with the clean-up of the face of the building that has now been exposed and currently looks unsightly,” he told the Trail Times.
While there is no telling when a developer will show interest, one thing is certain, future use must be a good fit for downtown Trail.
“Council has discussed the matter and is willing to be patient at this time and want to ensure that whatever is constructed provides the highest and best use for the property,” said Perehudoff.
“This must, of course, consider the local market and various economic factors which the city will consider if proposals do come forward.”
Further, given this is a land matter, any negotiations between the city and a potential purchaser will initially be completed in-camera (closed meeting).
As far as final costs for teardown and subsequent clean-up, there were no significant hiccups. The project will soon wrap up and it did come in about $300,000 under budget.
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“Dakota (Dakota Reclamators Ltd.) proved to be an excellent contractor,” Perehudoff said. “They presented the city with a demolition plan prior to the project beginning and it was clear they spent considerable time doing the advanced planning which translated well when executing the actual project.”
Dealing with site management, traffic control, dust and some shaking of the adjacent building were some of the issues that arose but were well managed, he clarified.
“The city became aware (Dakota Reclamators) did have to address an issue dealing with the recycling of bricks, and had to identify a different company to receive and recycle the bricks after the first company had hit capacity. Dakota managed to find a new company without any real delay or impact other than they were forced to stockpile the bricks on site for several days before they starting hauling to the new company.”
The 2019 Capital Budget included $950,000 for this phase of the demolition and remediation of the lots.
Dakota’s contract is $419,000, and when considering other costs, the city is estimating a surplus of approximately $300,000, Perehudoff added.
“The project was delivered in accordance with the schedule and there were no significant delays.”
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