By Brent Bosker

Church buys downtown Co-op

Feb 11, 2011 | 5:17 AM

Prince Albert Family Church believes the Co-op building will continue to be an asset for downtown even with the retailer relocating to Cornerstone.

The church has become the new owner of the 85,000 square foot space after completing a sale with Co-op.

“For us to make the building alive again, full of business concerns and ministry concerns. We felt we would be doing the best thing for the downtown core that anybody could do,” said Glen Stead, pastor of Prince Albert Family Church.

The space will become the new home for the church which has become squeezed at their current location at the corner of River Street and First Avenue East.

“We’re using every square inch of space,” Stead said, speaking about how much the parish has grown since he and his wife founded the church in 1988.

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The Co-op building was seen as a good fit for the growing parish, Stead said.

The plans are not yet final, but the building will undergo major renovations, Stead said.

The main level will be the hub for church activities. It will include a worship area, gym, offices and space for their school, bible college and day care.

There will also be a retail presence to bring people to the downtown, he said.

“We’re going to reopen retail space all the way across the front of the building on Central Ave.”

“We’re in good solid discussions with businesses that aren’t presently in Prince Albert so there will be something new and exciting,” said Stead, hinting that a clothing shop and book store were interested.

The church will also continue operating the basement cafeteria and are designing their worship area to be multi-use.

“We hope to be able to work together with our community and provide access to what we’ve built there so that it can operate like a convention centre.”

There is immediate parking close to the building for 200 cars and the size of the worship area could expand to accommodate 900 people, Stead said.

“The church has an excellent reputation within the community. I’m very confident it’s going to be a benefit to the downtown community and the seniors too,” said Dave Marchant, manager of the Prince Albert Co-op.

Prince Albert Family Church will take control of the basement cafeteria at the end of the month, but won’t take possession of the upstairs until Nov.1.

bbosker@panow.com