Plans call for a meeting to be held tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in the town hall to brainstorm how to fill up an estimated 45,000 square feet of vacant commercial space in Uptowne Olds and surrounding area.
Those attending the meeting are expected to include local realtor Hugh Bodmer as well as representatives of the Uptowne Olds committee, Business Attraction Retention and Expansion (BARE) committee, landlords and the Olds and District Chamber of Commerce.
That decision was made after realtor Hugh Bodmer came to an Uptowne Olds meeting this past Wednesday (April 13).
It was suggested that representatives of the college and local banks should be included in the discussions as well.
Uptowne chair Leon Duran called on committee members to each come up with five ideas on how to fill all that space. He said they could email those ideas to co-coordinator Deborah Olhausen or drop them off to her.
Bodmer said places with vacant commercial space include Mountain View Plaza, Sunshine Plaza (east of the railroad tracks on Highway 27) and Uptowne.
“What are some of the gaps in business services in our community? What could we target to fill spaces that are currently available in our community,” Bodmer asked.
“What things would work from your perspective? What kinds of things would be compatible, therefore complementary to your businesses, that would attract more people, be a business opportunity, create employment, all those good things.”
April Jemieff of Suzanne's & Jenny's said if landlords want to fill those empty spaces then they have to be a lot more flexible than many currently are.
She said her daughter, who runs a dance studio, is looking for space to expand but the landlords she's dealt with want a three-year lease.
“Well, when you're just starting a new business, you're not going to get yourself into a three-year lease. So unless people are willing to work with people who are coming into the community who want to try something out, then she's not going to take a risk,” Jemieff said.
She said jazzercise and karate schools are also looking for more space.
“Well, I can tell you that most landlords are getting much more creative now. They're having to, because of the current state of our economy and the fact that there's lots of competition, so to speak, because there's lots of vacant space,” Bodmer said.
“I'm finding that they're all willing to do tenant inducements of various kinds: rent-free periods, help in a number of ways. That's just the reality starting to happen.”
Brian Thompson, who has some vacant space in Uptowne, said one need would be to attract more ladies' wear stores.
“The more you had the better. When we had three or four ladies' wear stores in town, business was never better than when it dwindled down on it,” he said.
Olds Institute executive director Mitch Thomson said it's his understanding that there are 134 home-based businesses in the community; perhaps they could be enticed into some of that empty space.
“As they get to that stage, that's a natural next step for them to move into something,” Thomson said. “Having a program to help cultivate or create opportunities for those people to come together in a space or make that next step has strong potential too.”
"What are some of the gaps in business services in our community? What could we target to fill spaces that are currently available in our community?"HUGH BODMERREALTOR
