Chris Clegg
South Peace News
No more delays!
It’s the word High Prairie and area residents have long awaited for from First Aberdeen Properties Ltd. Managing director Martin Blair regarding the Tim Hortons restaurant in High Prairie.
“The Tim Hortons is all go,” says Blair, when reached at his Calgary home May 1.
“Construction starts tomorrow. It starts Monday [May 2].”
The area was fenced and an office trailer moved in last week in preparation for the build.
Blair says the restaurant should be open at the latest by mid-October, a little longer than usual for the construction period.
“We’ve allowed an extra month for delivery of materials,” says Blair.
“Pemco Construction, of Edmonton, is the general contractor. We signed the contract around Christmas.”
Blair says the project encountered numerous delays over the years, in no fault to the previous developer, who finally walked away.
“A number of [delays] were out of their control,” says Blair.
As a result, First Aberdeen took over after both parties contacted each other to find a solution.
“We told them we’d like to see something happen.”
The property was transferred to First Aberdeen, who re-engineered the site to make it much more user-friendly. Blair says original plans were quite “tight” but now the extra land acquired [which Aberdeen owned, as part of the East Gate development site] allowed for a patio and bigger drive-through.
“It’s a new layout, it’s more functional,” says Blair.
On July 27, 2021, High Prairie town council announced the latest delay was due to increased cost of materials and delivery delays. It was hoped the restaurant would open by the end of 2021 but Aberdeen chose to proceed in a different manner and be ready in the spring. Last fall, some site prep work was completed and, as expected, construction starts this week.
Throughout the entire process, Tim Hortons was always interested in locating in High Prairie, says Blair.
He adds the next project at East Gate is the construction of a 10,000 square-foot multi-purpose building. Original plans for the site included other businesses, but it was always the construction of Tim Hortons which would trigger further development as the anchor tenant.