So that is why “Coyotes” was shot down!

Commonwealth Night Club Corporation ?

Your kind of jumping to conclusions aren’t Denaljo. I doubt there will be another night club going in there. The article says the building was stripped.

More like Commonwealth Bar and Grill(the taxpayers) :-P

Commonwealth Bar and Grill. I like that!
Commonwealth could build it and the city could buy it back for double the cost. Nice!

why were my tax dollars spent to provide part of the reno costs for the new tenant?
it is time elected officials were more accountable.

Well, not that I agree with the spending, but we as taxpayers own that building. If you were going to rent out your house and after a year only 1 person showed any interest in renting it, but one of the conditions was that you had to redo the bathroom or they wouldn’t rent it. What would you do? I would do the renovations and then make sure they signed a long term lease (at least a year) to recover my costs of renovations. If the alternative is having no one to rent your house, what would you do?

Coyote’s were the “one” applicant at the Cadillac site and were denied. Now they have been denied again at the Odeon building. The city master plan to squash the night life and entertainment scene in Prince George is going well. Roll up the sidewalks at 9:00 PM

Rolling up the sidewalks at 9:00PM isd not a bad idea in the Crime Capital of Canada!

The rumor I heard was the City couldn’t say no to Hooters!

If you think its the crime capital of Canada then it always will be…. If we view our city as a great place to live then that is what it will be.

Boomer…..

A quality nighclub would typically strip everything anyway so that they could have their own “look”.

However, as Norm wrote, the landlord would not normally pay for that. That is a tenant improvement cost.

In reality, the place has been sitting empty for a few years now. It has been slow times. It is not exactly an attractive location from many points of view for some businesses and who knows, the City may not be the best landlord either.

So, to move it for renters, most landlords have had to drop their rental rates or provide incentives for long term leases such as 5 years such as paying for tenant improvements for simple spaces such “plain” offices or provide up to a year free rent.

I doubt we will see the details of something like that since the city is in a competitive business that they should be privatizing.

I would love to see the amount of time that people spent on this over the last few years that should have been charged against this project account line item. I doubt they record such things separately on time sheets and charge it to .

So we have something here that a true city owned development corporation would deal with at arm’s length. IPG really should have been that and likely was trying to be that when they had City Centre Ventures INC. as a component of their operations. That was started under Offet and was either never capable of getting going or was not allowed to get going because people like to micro-manage in this community. Or even very likely, businesses complained because they felt that such an organization would bring an unfair advantage to those in the development businesses.

Hooters has been rumoured for well over a decade. One of these days it may actually come true.

There was also a rumour of a Swiss Chalet moving in where Mr. Mikes is now going. They had an ad in the the newspapers looking for a franchise here over a year ago.

One thing is for sure, it has to be the kind of place that is a destination and is not dependent on location as much. It could be spruced up and it has a southern exposure so an outdoor patio use would be excellent, except that there are no people around to watch and the traffic is the worst of all the east-west streets in that part of town, other than First Ave.

The kind of rumour one hears typically depends on the kind of people one hangs around with … :-)

Personally I am elated that Coole and his “gang” were not allowed to open up another drinking establishment! why?? well lets just look at the “great” job he did with the PG Hotel!! now how many of you that want him to open up another bar here in town went to the PG Hotel?? that’s right not a lot of you, if any!! and why is that?? hmm well the list is long, gangs allowed to hang out, actually preferred, were allowed in before anyone else waiting in line, drugs being sold openly while a blind eye being turned by all, over serving, which other bars are being closed and fined for, but not them oh the list could go on and on but why, there will be many that will jump down my throat or crawl up my rectum because of what I have just stated.

Don’t get me wrong, I would LOVE to see a new club open up in this town as there are many many many people older than the age of most of the people that go to the generator and rum jungle that would love to have a place to go!! so miss Viva’s and the Cadillac.

Ok let the bashing now begin!! LOL

umm…..part of the reason the Cadillac was shut down was because of the Drug deals by people working there so I wouldn’t be so hard on the PG Hotel! Although I am glad to see it gone!

I don’t think too many “gangs” hung out at the PG Hotel/Roadhouse, but I have seen so-called gangs at the Cadillac, Rum Jungle, and the Generator.

@ cityofPGresident. Not slamming you but unless your out there I’m not sure you’re as informed as those who are.
Actually the Roadhouse was likely the safest bar in town and if you had spent anytime in there you would see the clientele was mostly 30 to 50 year old caucasian patrons out to dance the night away without fear of gangs and violence. I’m sure there was drugs but there’s drugs everywhere. It was not a major gang hangout. The Cadillac was but at the time it was subletted by the owners to a third party. The Coole’s did not let happen at the Roadhouse. The hotel was run down but the bar was actually pretty decent.

Norm: why were my tax dollars spent to provide part of the reno costs for the new tenant?

Gus: However, as Norm wrote, the landlord would not normally pay for that. That is a tenant improvement cost.

metalman: Sorry guys, it is the generally the landlord’s resposibility to prepare the rental space for a prospective new tenant. NOT renovate, but clean up,remove debris and generally get ready for a new tenant, whoever that may be. Not painting, flooring, ceilings etc, but remove extraneous junk like raised seating areas, special lighting, partitions etc. that were specific to the previous operation. The new tenant will have to prepare and finish the space for their own needs, unless they negotiate the improvements they require with the landlord. The previous improvements could be left in place, such as in the case of restaurant equipment, if the improvements could be viewed as an asset to a new, prospective tenant, i.e. you are marketing the space as a restaurant. I would suppose that the City is not trying to attract another nightclub to the space, or they may have allowed the proponents Coole/Thun to locate there. Thus, clean up the space, make it presentable to a wide range of prospective tenants.
metalman.

I was out and about and I did see what was happening at the PG Hotel and everytime I/we were down there it was the same thing all the time, out in the open drug dealings, lil wanna be gang members getting preferential treatment, to the point that one night our party of 8 was asked to move to another table and when we refused our waitress stopped coming to take our orders, so in the end they won as we left, and yes I was aware of what was happening at the Cadillac, one of the main reasons I/we quit going there as well.

As I said before I would love to see a new establishment open in downtown Prince George, I totall agree that there is no where left for middle aged people of PG to go and enjoy ourselves, well not downtown anyhow. We have been going to the Northwood on the weekends for live music and dancing, have to say it is a nice place, in need of some renovations but very friendly and we have always had a good time!!

I think they should make it a Country Bar…

Or an office for the 2015 Games committee, IPG Office perhaps??? Or both?

So, we have a pub across the street from the old PG Hotel – Coach’s Corner, which is not doing all that well. Why?

The pub at first and tabor closed. Why?

Several others have closed, including night club. People not going out that much?

IPG or a city run version of it most certainly needs a storefront operation. The regional development office was located in a storefront for part of its life.

In fact, that is where first contact for some of the derparments for city hall should be with good, easy parking. One stop shopping for city information. DBIA and chamber included! Same place. Let’s get some face to face action going. Give people the pencil, as they say.

Was that one of the many suggestions that the gold panel of business people missed?

A plain box? A shell? Perfect opportunity to provide shelter fer the homeless PLUS a brand new Safe Injection Site on the premises. Who could say no to that? Only the hard hearted with no pity?

I’ve heard the newest gang hangout is down along 1st Ave.

Everything in the downtown is closing their doors because the taxpayers are refusing to fix up their places of business for them.

That is a huge space with no possible demising to make it smaller. And yes metalman is correct, it is “landlord work” to remove anything specific to a certain business and then the leaseholder will go in and do improvements specific to their business.

Not often is a place leased “as-is”.

This space is huge and by looking at the downtown “plan” and their only explanation of businesses in the “entertainment district” is movie theater. I think if a theater were to move in to town they would build at least 6 viewing areas with a central projection booth and this place becomes too small except for theaters like the ones in the Vancouver East Side and we do not want those. (still can’t believe they want to add bridges to Queensway and put in a river up to White Spot with a small lake)

“metalman is correct, it is “landlord work” to remove anything specific to a certain business”

Not in normal economic times. Look at shopping malls for the standard.

A business moving out typically has to make good the exterior changes made to identify their business – signage, special coloured walls, etc. If the business moves out in default, the landlord has to try to collect.

Take a look at the transformation of Starbucks to Tim Horton, East Side Mario to Mr. Mikes.

Starbucks took everything out what they had in about 24 hours. Fastest move I have seen likely because the company wanted to mitigate the damage done by being associated with a failed location.

After that, everything stayed as it was. Nothing happend till Tim Hortons took over.

Go talk to the managers at Pine Centre Mall.

The standard lease allows you to remove trade fixtures, but not improvements you made, such as heating systems, lighting, partitions, doors, flooring, etc. etc.

If something does not meet code, has asbestos in ti, mold, etc. it is the tenants responsibility to remove it, o else the landlord will do it and charge you and try to collect.

Usually it is in the interest of the landlord to leave the premises as they were left, especially in the case of offices in an office building.

If the place does not rent and it might be because it does not “show well”, then most certainly the owner has to make a choice whether she removes some or all of the tenant improvements.

“That is a huge space with no possible demising to make it smaller”

Where did you get that idea from? It has frontage on 2nd as well as Brunswick. It would be easy to divide it up into 3 or 4 spaces. It also has access to the lane, so if there are larger spaces that require two or more exits, that could be easily accomplished.

Just took a look at exterior photos.

The First Avenue side has 2 double doors as well what looks like possible store front window framing with solid panels in them. Brunswick St. side is similar but with one double door and there is a door onto the lane as well.

The store across the street has three large window panels and a single door onto Brunswick with some window panels next to it.

In fact, if you mimic the west side of Brunswick part of the parkade, on could put three storefronts in where the Cadillac was.

In fact, the City could proably gain some lease space on the West side of Brunswick if they closed off the open area at the lane and put an additional store front in on the west side of Brunswick.

All it takes is a good Architect to make that part of the parkade commercial/retail space look like a very presentable modern shopping/restaurant strip.

and would that be the same architect that us used on an ongoing basis?

Good architect? Try Art Vandelay?

Gus, you made a booboo – both those businesses have different leases than a standard mall. How do I know? I work with them.

The East Side Mario’s building was built by the Grewal group and transferred their lease directly to Mr Mikes, the landlord was involved only to approve the transaction.

Almost the same with Starbucks/Timmys, Starbucks held the lease until Timmys took over.

Check out the old Shoppers Drug Mart location or the old Movie Gallery…or perhaps Old Town Market space…all within shopping malls in PG

Also locations within Pine Centre, once a tenant leaves the space is gutted for the next tenant, in some cases the washrooms are removed and ‘stubbed’. If you have a prospective client before the old tenant leaves sometimes demo costs are negotiated in to the lease, but demo is the responsibility of the landlord

Leaving old worn out carpet/tile/bathroom doesn’t show well. You have to remember sometimes these are guys who fly in from big cities to look at leasing a unit.

There are a lot of things to look at when demising a space not just storefront, electrical services, hvac piping and locations, water supply and drains, natural gas supply…