One down, dozens to go! As Northern Savings purchases Dairy Queen building on McBride

Northern Savings has purchased the DQ building on McBride
with plans to examine the envelope to the building and then
chart its future for the downtown core

Prince Rupert based Northern Savings Credit Union has made a significant purchase in some downtown Prince Rupert real estate, announcing today that they have purchased the Dairy Queen building on the corner of 3rd Avenue West and McBride Street.

The building which has been sitting empty since the 1990's has become one of the poster buildings for the decline of the city's downtown core and was one of the more prominent of the abandoned buildings in the city.

“Northern Savings is committed to strengthening and growing our Northern communities. In its current state, the empty structure is not enhancing the viability of Prince Rupert’s downtown area. This purchase provides an opportunity for the Credit Union to work with the City of Prince Rupert’s Redesign Rupert and to contribute to the enrichment and development of Prince Rupert’s city core.” -- Bill Snell, Northern Savings’ Interim President & CEO

No disclosure of the purchase price for the building was included in today's announcement.

Mention of the Redesign Rupert program, certainly captured the attention of Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain who was included as part of today's announcement, expressing his enthusiasm for the steps that Northern Savings have taken.

“I'm so excited to see Redesign Rupert moving into action by working with partners to revitalize our community. Northern Savings Credit Union has been a stable and reliable partner for Prince Rupert for many years, and we welcome this commitment to improving the downtown core. The DQ building is the first thing you see when coming into town. This change in hands signals a new beginning and opportunity for our community."

The full statement from Northern Savings can be reviewed here.

You can explore more of the new focus for Redesign Rupert from our archive page here.

Residents of the region will see the first steps towards remediation of the building taking place over the course of the next few months, with Northern Savings set to remove the existing envelope of the building and then evaluating how best to move forward to make use of the property both for the short and long term.

The theme of attention towards derelict buildings has been one that Councillor Barry Cunningham has explored at Council on a number of occasions.

With some progress now seen on the Dairy Queen eyesore, it may help to spur some interest in some of the other properties in the community that could use a bit of a makeover.

We offered up a catalogue of sorts back in 2017, that after Tourism Prince Rupert Chair Scott Farwell called attention to the issue.

For more items of note from the city's commercial sector see our archive page here.