Demolition of Thunder Bay’s south-end Victoriaville Mall is slated to begin today.
Built in 1979 as a city urban renewal project, the removal of the mall has been called for by business owners in the south end downtown core for years.
The project’s general contractor is Finn Way General Contractor with the subcontractor Priestly Demolition.
Brian Shott, the city’s capital facility project coordinator, told Northern Ontario Business by email that Priestly is on site with demolition slated to begin Aug. 11 and work continuing through to the end of September.
City council approved the demolition in October 2020, but there have been delays, some attributed to scope changes in the demolition preparation work.
The mall closed to the public on July 18.
The demolition is part of a phase of the larger Reimagine Victoriaville project to revitalize the business into a public plaza.
The idea to reopen traffic to Victoria and Syndicate Streets, which had been blocked by the construction of the mall and introduce bike lanes, wider sidewalks and outdoor patio spaces to support neighbourhood businesses.
The existing mall square footage in the demolition area is 61,000 square feet.
A city news release from last week said demolition in the coming weeks involves removal of the roof, a demolition of the second-floor mezzanine, removal of a skywalk and ripping up the main floor slab. The crews will be working from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The City of Thunder Bay has created a ‘Get Involved’ web page to provide the public with updates and notices on this phase. The city said it will try to minimize disruptions to local businesses.
