The pastor of Kootenay Christian Fellowship calls their vision for redeveloping the old Savoy Hotel a “social enterprise” that he hopes will receive strong community buy-in.
Jim Reimer confirmed in a interview with the Star this week that the church has made an offer on the building at Falls and Baker, and hopes to use it not only for religious services but housing and retail. They also plan to make it available to performing arts groups.
“Our vision is quite extensive,” Reimer says. “It’s a huge project. We want to turn it into a wonderful community place on all three floors.”
Although they don’t yet own it, they have applied for a zoning amendment to allow the building to be used for church purposes. It’s expected to go before city council on March 7.
Reimer says the recent Kerr Apartments fire made it apparent “like an exclamation mark” that the community needs more affordable housing. Their proposal is to create up to 18 spaces on the second floor.
“We have always taken a wholistic approach to homelessness,” he says. “Just feeding people isn’t all we want to do, but we’re limited in our [current] space. If the building can become self-sustainable, instead of trying to make money on the units, we can actually provide housing people can afford.”
The main floor could have a small coffee shop, bookstore, and other retail space. The area used for Sunday church services would double as a performing arts venue.
“We’re going to have all the technology in there anyway for our church, so we thought wouldn’t it be great to have a space the arts community could use?” Reimer says.
The basement would become the new home of Our Daily Bread, the hot lunch service provided five days per week. Reimer suggests it could also be used as a training ground.
“If we can have it as a place where people learn how to work in the kitchen, they can move nicely into a job in a restaurant environment, and then into the community elsewhere.”
Another possibility for the building is a laundromat.
Reimer says the idea has been in the works since before Christmas, but it will require significant capital outlay to acquire the property and carry out the renovations.
“It’s going to take over $1 million. We’re starting to raise money now,” he says.
Because it is a non-profit development, donations are tax-deductible. For now, any money raised will be placed in a separate account so it can be refunded if the project fails.
While they will apply for grants and develop a business plan, Reimer says community support is critical.
“We’re not waiting on the government. We want this to be a community project. To make it sustainable, we need to raise quite a bit of capital to bring the mortgage down.
“This is a social enterprise right from the get-go. We’re not planning on making money, we’re planning on helping people. The retail and other stuff is to make it sustainable so we can provide low-cost, high-quality housing and continue our services for Our Daily Bread.”
The building, erected in 1913 as the Athabasca Hotel, has been derelict since a fire in 2007.
If the project proceeds, Reimer says Kootenay Christian Fellowship’s present headquarters on Stanley Street would likely be sold.
*****
Reimer’s return to Haiti is tentatively scheduled for March 18. He’ll be part of a group of 12 who will use $20,000 in donations to build houses. They initially planned to be there last month on the first anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the nation, but were forced to postpone their trip due to political instability.