On March 29, the Athabasca Heritage Society hosted an open house at the train station to showcase to the community the renovations that have been ongoing for three years.
The society has put nearly $600,000 into the building and will need nearly $200,000 more to finish the project, heritage society vice-chair Mike Gismondi explained.
Over three years, the building’s exterior has been stripped and repainted, the interior almost completely demolished, and old lathing and drywall replaced with new insulation and drywall. Along with that, the windows have all been replaced and new plumbing and wiring put in. New support in the foundation was also installed to fix a sag in one corner of the building.
Due to the grant funding the society has received, the restoration must try to make the building look as historically authentic as possible.
“We simply wanted to take our ongoing project to the community so they can see what we’ve got going here then get back to us with their ideas for what they think the space should be used as,” said Margaret Anderson, heritage society chair.
Sixty-five people attended the open house.
The society is seeking renters to fill the newly renovated space.
As recently as 2013, the main portion of the building was leased by the town to be used as a visitor information centre. Former MP Brian Jean also rented office space on the main floor.
Anderson said the society has approached the town about running the visitor information centre again.
“This is the space for that,” Anderson said, noting the historical significance of the building.
The society went before the town as a delegation at the end of March and have yet to receive a response.
There has also been mention of using the space for a museum. However, Gismondi, while not ruling out the idea, said it would be difficult.
“The rules around museums are really sticky,” he said. He explained the building would need much more work to meet the regulations and the criteria for a museum, and that it would need to be open for a certain number of hours every day.
The society will be appearing before Athabasca County at the end of April to seek interest in the visitor information centre.
