A look at the frame for the future ice rinks in The Yard District (Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

By Derek Craddock

THE YARD

WATCH: A first-hand look at The Yard

Apr 26, 2023 | 5:00 PM

Progress is running well on the biggest construction project in Prince Albert’s history and paNOW got a look inside the development of the Yard District.

Once completed, the Yard will feature the city’s new arena and aquatic centre and boast hotels, restaurants, and other businesses.

While Rusty Clunie, partner with Signature Developments couldn’t give all the names of the businesses opening, he was able to share some of them.

One of the parcels of land will feature a strip mall being developed by local company MalKon Properties.

A future grocery store is also slated to be a part of the development, along with Riverside Dodge, Fun Motor Sports, and Circle K.

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Clunie said that roughly 75 per cent of the development has been sold and some of the businesses like the Holiday Inn hotel could be ready by September.

“Most of them all have plans to be in the ground here in the next two to three weeks or this summer,” said Clunie. “You’ll see a lot more activity over there beyond the Holiday Inn hotel going up.”

Not far from the hotel site is a stormwater pond which will be the centre of a new RV Park, with over 40 sites to be made available.

With all the new development in place, Clunie said they wanted to use some of the space for new houses, which they are currently working with the city to help develop.

“That’s a plan with Signature owning land to the east of the current yard space,” he said. “There is plans now underway to start coming forward with development concepts and plan to bring on residential (spaces). That will be a work in progress with Signature and the city.”

With the Yard and the potential residential neighbourhoods, parts of Highway 3 and Marquis Road are scheduled to expand with more lanes.

Planning and building the Yard District has come with its share of critics, especially from concerned citizens worried about the amount of debt the city is accumulating because of the project.

The City of Prince Albert said its debt limit is $120 million but the cost of borrowing for the project currently is $46 million.

Clunie agrees, going so far as to say a development like this is vital for the city and its economic future, especially with the hospital expansion in the works and the forestry industry returning.

“It’s a need to attract people with all the activity we have,” he said. “We want people to come to P.A. and relocate and live here. That means we have to catch up with housing, that means we have to have a new face or increase the great face that we have in P.A. to have people want to come and live and work. Opportunity is key and there’ll be a lot of opportunity that opens up doors to deal with a lot of current issues in growth and problems in town and that’s what happens with opportunity.”

While there are different phases of the Yard, the aquatic and arena centre could be up and running by March 2024.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @princealbertnow