The city will hire a consultant to study the options for the centre, including demolition, re purposing the space, or keeping it as a mall.

THUNDER BAY - A social media page started by business and building owners in the downtown south core is renewing calls to tear down Victoriaville Mall and open up the street again.

“I definitely would like to see the centre removed, the roof taken off Victoria Avenue, and I would like to see it come back,” said Mike Larizza, owner of the Chapples Building. “It brings traffic into the area and I think you will see a lot of positive changes in the area.”

Victoriaville Mall was built in 1979, closing a section of Victoria Avenue between Archibald Street and Brodie Street with an enclosed structure. In that time, it has been plagued with leaky roofs and, as of June 2016, an $11.3 million deficit on the tax base since 1980.

According to a report by city realty services manager Joel DePeuter in 2016, it would require an $8.6 million investment over 10 years to keep the mall open, including $4.4 million in capital repairs. The cost of demolishing the mall would be $9 million.

Last January, city administration said it would need to determine if an environmental assessment is required before moving forward with a plan for the future of the mall.

“The fate of Victoriaville Mall has been an ongoing conversation in this area pretty much since it has been built,” said Thunder Bay city councilor, Shelby Ch’ng, who has also operated a business in the area for the past seven years.

“One of the things that has changed recently was that previously we were under the impression that we needed the environmental assessment to be completed on the building before anything could happen. Environmental assessments are very costly and time consuming. So that was a big hold up.”

The Ministry of the Environment informed the city that an environmental assessment was not the best route to take and with it no longer required, Ch’ng said this is the first time they can start having an honest conversation about the fate of Victoriaville Mall.

“A lot of people do want to see the mall gone,” she said. “What comes after is up for discussion. Whether it’s large sidewalks for patio space. Maybe it’s a public square where people can do gatherings or marches and make it more of a political action space. The possibilities are quite endless.”

Ch’ng said she is hoping to see further discussions take place through city council. The city has decided to hire a consultant to study options for the space, which could include demolition, re-purposing the existing structure, or keeping it as a mall. Ch’ng said a report is expected to be completed by next fall.

This is an opportunity for city to rebrand the downtown south core, Ch’ng added, which she recognizes as having been plagued by social issues for many years.

“People generally say very negative things about this place,” she said. “Whether it’s larger than life is another discussion, but we really want to see the brand of this area expand and grow and showcase Thunder Bay in a positive way.”

Larizza believes the idea of Victoriaville was good when it was constructed, providing shoppers an opportunity to travel from one building to another in an enclosed space.

“We have very cold winters here, so having people walking out of the building and go from building to building would have been great,” he said. “But unfortunately it didn’t work. It didn’t work anywhere. Maybe it’s time to remove it.”

Victoriaville Mall manager, Brian Philips, said in a statement that its business as usual for the centre, which has 12 tenants and several new stores who have signed leases with plans to open soon.