City of Thunder Bay to hire consultant to examine options for Victoriaville's future

The City of Thunder Bay is looking to hire some outside help to narrow down the choices for what to do about the future of Victoriaville Centre and to make a recommendation to city council.

A request for proposal is seeking a consultant to prepare a report that will identify and evaluate at least three "realistic options" for the mall's future and recommend to council a preferred one.

Those options, the bid documents state, can include rehabilitating the facility for continued commercial use, adapting Victoriaville into something else or tearing it down and reopening Victoria Avenue and Syndicate Avenue, among other possibilities that could be identified along the way.

"It's complex stuff," said Joel DePeuter, the city's manager of realty services when asked about hiring an external planner. "A number of other cities besides Thunder Bay built downtown street malls like Victoriaville and others have had some similar troubles."

"We want to learn from what others have done and [we] really require some planning expertise to bring the best recommendations to council."

The mall was built in 1979 with the goal of revitalizing the downtown south core but has struggled to attract tenants and consistently loses money, according to the city. Currently the mall primarily is home to health and social service organizations as well as government offices.

Loitering and trespassing are consistent issues, the city's documents say. Additionally, the mall needs "significant" money put into it for repairs and maintenance.

City officials held an open house in 2016 to take public feedback on the mall's future. At that time, the city estimated that Victoriaville would cost taxpayers $8.6 million over 10 years to keep open, including absorbing annual deficits and doing needed repairs.

Those figures are generally still accurate, DePeuter said.

The consultant's recommended option must satisfy a number of criteria, according to the bid documents, including that it:

• Be achievable in the short or medium-term
• Be cost-effective and sustainable
• Have positive economic and social impacts
• Benefit the downtown core
• Balance the needs of businesses, area residents and the general public.

"Council's direction was to look at options for Victoriaville, aside from demolition, so we'd ask the consultant to prepare some cost estimates for those other options," he said.

Feedback from the public will also go into the report and final recommendation, DePeuter added.

"There's a lot at play," he said. "The original purpose for Victoriaville was to improve the downtown ... so adding value to the downtown is something that's a very important goal."

DePeuter said the plan is to have a consultant chosen by the end of June with the expectation that their report and chosen recommendation will be ready to go to city council prior to the start of 2020 municipal budget deliberations.

Depending on what that recommended option — and, ultimately, council's decision — is, a second planning phase may be required for the downtown south core area.

"So, for example, if demolition is chosen, it would ... result in quite the change, so we'd want to broaden things and see what other improvements should be made to make things all work," DePeuter said.