It's exciting stuff for the City of Humboldt.
The Quill Centre, which is currently home to Canadian Tire and Tim Hortons, will soon see the addition two new businesses.
On February 1, an announcement was made for future plans of the Quill Centre, a commercial development located on the west side of Humboldt, by Martin Blair.
"What we are going to be doing now, we will be starting very early in the spring, is a new Sobeys store and originally what we were calling a professional centre," said Blair.
The professional centre is now being referred to as a retail building. The only confirmed move into this building is the Humboldt Vision Centre.
"We do have interest in the other space, but nothing confirmed yet," said Blair. "My feeling is right now, when we start this project, I'm anticipating there is going to be a lot of interest in the other spaces."
They still have an additional 22 acres of expansion area to facilitate more growth and businesses.
For now they are focusing on the two businesses that will be moving into the regional shopping centre.
"Sobeys has probably been the longest negotiation I have done," laughed Blair. "We are looking forward to having the grocery store there."
Now that negotiations have finished, Blair and Humboldt IGA owner, Dave Doepker, have a plan for the building and space.
The building will be 22,800 square feet, with the option to expand in the future, with a 8,000 square foot expansion area. Blair explained this will give the store the option of growing along with the city.
Blair is excited about the design of the building. He said they are planning a very home-like feel to the entire area, calling it a railway design.
"We feel Humboldt citizens deserve more than a stucco box," said Blair.
Instead of a stucco box, it will be a brick building, which gives a more inviting feeling.
Blair is also looking forward to some of the landscaping components of the area.
"What I'm really excited about is the landscape component," said Blair.
The road will blend seamlessly from Canadian Tire, he explained, but there will be some changes in design as you head over to Sobeys.
"What we are going to do and Canadian Tire didn't, is some island control just to keep that traffic moving,"
He is hoping to put blue spruce trees in the parking lots islands, which will add colour and more of the home feeling Blair wants the centre to extend to its customers.
"When Christmas comes around, we are thinking we can put lights on them and get that whole row of Christmas feel," said Blair.
He also wants to see a sidewalk or walking area to extend from Sobeys down to the retail building, to make it easier for people to walk from building to building.
"We have put a lot of thought into that type of thing," he said.
Sobeys will be replacing the current IGA, explained Doepker.
"With the growth of Humboldt and lack of square footage here, it was just a natural progression to try to offer the customers more products they are looking for and more space to do it," said Doepker.
He explained there was just no space to expand in their current location in a strip mall near Hwy. 5, which is why he decided to make the move to the Quill Centre. With Sobeys, he will be able to offer more products than before.
"Two of the bigger areas will definitely be in the deli department and in meats as far as seafood and value added," said Doepker. "It's going to allow us to do so many more things that we can't do (in our current location)."
"The grocery store, we are setting that one up to open for the year-end," said Blair.
The new location will serve a similar purpose for Dave Guilbault and Curtis Knight's Humboldt Vision Centre.
"Our current space is not big enough," said Knight.
He explained they looked at all of their options, including purchasing a new building, purchasing land to build a new building or leasing from the Quill Centre.
"After talking it over and looking at our business plan for the next 20 to 30 years, we felt that partnering up with the Quill Centre was in our best interest," said Knight.
The building will be 8,800 square feet, able to accommodate the vision centre as well as one or two other tenants.
"The larger building will accommodate our expanding practice," explained Knight. "It also allows for better parking for when we have our eye specialist out."
Also, it will give patients or those waiting for patients the opportunity to get more done while waiting.
The retail centre will have a softer look to it, with a sloped roof, 12-foot ceilings. They are still deciding materials and colours for the building.
"Again, we were trying to keep some of that railway theme," said Blair.
He is also planning lots of landscaping around the building, to give it a nice, clean look and to somewhat match Tim Hortons.
"This one is designed for an occupancy basically around the end of the summer," said Blair.
He said work on the foundation for both buildings should start mid-February.
Blair explained the Quill Centre will fill a need in the community.
"Let's face it, every city of this size must have a regional centre," said Blair. "I think it is an enormous benefit to the city."
Blair isn't the only one who sees the benefits to the community.
"This development will spawn other developments - maybe within (Blair's) own development," said James Moller, Humboldt City Manager. "I think this is going to get the ball rolling."
Although many of the seniors in the city might find the move of two grocery stores west of the city not to their liking, he believes this will open up opportunities for downtown that people may not have thought about.
"This will accommodate growth of our downtown," said Moller. "It will reinvent it and be redesigned... There may be a disconnect from the seniors, but I'm sure the grocery stores will probably try to accommodate them somehow."
He explained this may give businesses already downtown, to expand their services downtown a bit, and may be able to offer seniors a few staples until they can get transportation to the grocery stores.
Moller also believes the new stores opening on the west end of the city will help expand the city's service area.
"I think we should stop being focused on Wal Mart and try something different, like maybe try to get a Costco in here," said Moller. "If we can attract more shoppers and visitors to our area, I think it benefits everybody."
Everyone is looking forward to the opportunities presented by the Quill Centre.
"I think, especially as Martin (Blair) fills that area up, it will be the power centre for the area," said Doepker. "I think there will be a huge amount of traffic out there."
Blair is already looking forward to some new businesses moving into the centre.
"We have interest in the other space," said Blair.
Although nothing is confirmed yet, he talked about the possibility of clothing stores or drugstores in the centre.
One of the other topics that has been brought to Blair's attention was the idea of residential housing.
"When we do get calls, they are about residential," said Blair. "We are not residential people, but it was pretty clear that we should probably start designing in some residential housing."
He is hoping to include some apartment buildings in the Quill Centre as it continues to expand.
Blair said growth in the Quill Centre will be happening over the next five to seven years.
"Growth is slower here than in Saskatoon," said Blair. "People are more cautious here."
Although people are more cautious, Blair said that the development will grow and things are going to happen, no matter what else happens in the community.
"Everything we are doing here is regardless of the (proposed BHP) mine (at Jansen)," said Blair, explaining the growth the city has already seen has shown the community can support the development.
"I think it is really, really exciting," said Blair.
