The walls are up, the windows are in and now Moose Jaw residents are waiting for their newest neighbours to move in.
The Moose Jaw Civic Centre Plaza build is nearly complete after four years in the making, and its two first tenants — Starbucks and The Canadian Brewhouse — will be moving in this month.
“The most exciting thing is, yet again, we become more sustainable as a community, providing services to local people and people in the region,” said Matt Noble, City of Moose Jaw manager.
The original Moose Jaw Civic Centre — also known as the Crushed Can — housed the Warriors junior hockey team for 26 seasons and served the community for nearly 50 years. The aging architecture reached the end of its useful life and was demolished four years ago.
Bill Babey, vice-president of CSR holdings, said he had the old arena in mind when he helped develop the plaza’s blueprints.
“The roof structure was state of the art in its day. We wanted to make sure we paid tribute to that by designing the building to make sure all of the roofs are curved,” said Babey.
Alongside the new business lineup, Noble said the city can look forward to increased convenience and job opportunities.
“Twenty per cent of our economy is based on tourism, and the people that do arrive here expect to see things such as those international brands in our community,” he said.
Nearly all of the completed plaza spaces are spoken for, and Babey said the majority will be businesses “new to Moose Jaw.”
Starbucks and the Canadian Brewhouse are slated to open in about a month. The other tenants remain unannounced, but developers said Moose Jaw residents can look forward to their new neighbours moving in by March 2017.
