VIC staying put for another season - Jan. 16, 2013
Kathy Bockus/Courier
The province has renewed its lease for another year for the Visitor Information Centre in this downtown St. Stephen location. The Garcelon Civic Center is under construction nearby. When the old train station becomes vacant, the town doesn’t believe there will be any shortage of ideas for the property’s future use.
Kathy Bockus
St. Stephen
The Department of Tourism has renewed its lease of the Visitor Information Centre building for one more year.
In January of 2012, Mike O’Connell, St. Stephen’s director of parks, recreation and property management, told council the old train station in town square would be vacant as of April 1, 2013, because the province was not renewing its lease on the town-owned building.
Today, O’Connell confirmed the province has extended its lease for another year.
“They are looking to renew for one more year. That request will be going to council,” said O’Connell. The new lease on the property runs from April 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014.
The town has been in a holding pattern since 2006 waiting to learn the fate of a piece of property at the traffic circle on the outskirts of town formerly occupied by the Department of Transportation garage. It has long been a goal of the town to have the VIC move to that location to be near the new highway and its off-ramp to the town. The property is located at the juncture of Route 3 and Route 170 and adjacent to Highway 1 which leads to and from the U.S. border at Calais, Me.
O’Connell said when the move comes, to wherever it may be, it won’t be a problem renting out the former VIC space.
“That one I don’t think will be too big of a headache. It’s an ideal location for a development,” said O’Connell. The VIC is located in an old train station building at town square.
The immediate area there is bustling with the construction of the Garcelon Civic center and a local businessman is posed to make an announcement Thursday afternoon of a major project in the same vicinity.
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca
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