Development News ..All About Timing
By Ben Meisner
Tuesday, November 08, 2005 12:00 PM
While there were no kisses, one got the feeling that was next at the media conference Tuesday announcing the development of a housing, retail, entertainment complex at the corner of 2nd and Quebec.
The developer took the opportunity to sign the agreement in principle with Mayor Colin Kinsley after first talking up the Mayor and all the work he had done to secure the project which had been approved by City Council on Monday at a closed meeting.
Yves Ghiai ,the developer, said he didn’t want to take part in Prince George politics and the media conference had just happened now.
While the project is a good one for the down town and will go a long way to anchoring UNBC to the downtown with the construction of student housing, it clearly had that smell of an election in the air and the commercial for the event was being sung in Colin Kinsley’s honor.
This is the third section of the three part development which Ghiai says will be a "go" when financing is complete in December.
At a cost of $18 million dollars, it is a real boost for the down town and the citizens will gladly support it.
The only fly in the ointment came in the manner it is being sold to the Prince George public, that being Colin Kinsley’s involvement in the project. Of course neglecting to mention that in this case (not like BC Rail) the City Council would have had to make the final call on the option to purchase the property.
The Councilors, along with Dan Rogers the Mayor's chief opponent in this election , did not receive any mention.
It was a shame the announcement came with a big pitch for Colin Kinsley. It may have been a media conference put on by City of Prince George, but standing around the table were Kinsley campaign workers .
I’m Meisner and that is one man’s opinion.
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Posted by: Chadermando on November 8 2005 5:12 PM
Metropolis, the main city, often the Capital of a country, state, or region. Any large city or centre of population.
This venture hardly fits the discription of a Metropolis, however it fits in perfectly with the Big City mentality of Prince George, which is in fact a small city, located 500 miles from anywhere. The one thing that we have that is larger than any other **big citys** is our debt.
If Kinsley wants the credit for business locating downtown, will he also take the credit for all the business that has left.???
Its time for a new Mayor