St. Albert’s Anthony Henday Business Park is positioned to become a lot more sporty.
Mayor Cathy Heron announced during her State of the City address Wednesday, Sept. 18 that RAISE Sports just took possession of the 170,000-square-foot, 36-foot ceilinged Building 2A in the park in the city’s southwest. A city webpage pegs the value of the building at $17.5 million.
The company promises 20 new pickleball courts as well as paddleball courts, basketball and volleyball courts, soccer pitches, healthy food options, a physiotherapy provider and a “sports-focused daycare.”
“I look forward to the increased recreational opportunities this facility will provide our growing community,” Heron told the crowd of about 250, adding Building 2B is also now ready for a tenant.
“Thanks to development in South Riel and other parts of the city, St. Albert has added nearly two million square feet of new warehousing space over the past six years,” Heron said.
Much of Heron’s 30-minute address focused on residential, industrial and commercial growth in the city. It included a video of Heron on location at nearly a dozen such developments or city amenities, from a new playground in the planned Chérot neighbourhood in the city's extreme west to the Alliance Centre retail complex at 3 Redspur Drive.
She said the province, St. Albert MLA and Minister of Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally himself, has noticed the high rate of development and efforts at trimming bureaucratic slowdown.
“The Urban Development Institute, in its annual report, also recognized St. Albert for having the fastest permitting times in the region, with a turnaround of just under five days on average across all permit types,” the mayor said. “I commend our city staff for their hard work in this area.”
She said the city has seen nearly 1,000 new businesses start up in the city in the last five years, pointing to the return of Best Buy, and new Urban Kids, The Shoe Company and L’OCA grocery locations, and two new ice cream shops, La Diperie and Whole Scoop.
“I just realized something,” she joked. “If you want your business mentioned in the mayor’s state of the city address, you may want to serve delicious sweets.”
