The plain, old shipping-container resembling walls of the city’s Enterprise Centre will get a makeover.
To accommodate the move-in of the Volunteer Centre, the city will re-paint the building with a community mural on the back wall and re-paint the panel that runs along the top of the building with a trendy graphic.
Council approved the $3,100 facade improvement at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Coun. Larry Samson brought a mock-up of the design to Tuesday’s meeting.
“I think this follows the intent of what we’re trying to do in our downtown by approving grants for facades,” Samson said. “I think this will be very eye-catching, eye-appealing, as people are travelling along Alder Street, whether they’re coming down the hill or they’re going up. I think it’ll just stand out and really show our Volunteer Centre.”
Coun. Claire Moglove agreed and thanked Samson for bringing the design forward and for being a champion of including public art in the new design.
“I think it’s going to look excellent and I think the new location is fabulous,” Moglove said. “It’s going to be great for the Volunteer Centre.”
Council approved moving the Volunteer Centre to the Enterprise Centre during budget planning in January so that the city’s IT department could re-locate from the finance department to the basement of city hall, where the Volunteer Centre was located.
The move is expected to cost the city around $82,000 with $24,000 of that to be spent on renovating the Enterprise Centre with new paint, carpeting, signage, and lighting, such as sky lights.
The money will come from the city’s facilities reserve.