Community attempts to woo businesses to Petrolia Mall
With the foreclosure process on a deteriorating Edmonton strip mall now complete, community volunteers are turning to the Internet in their efforts to see the site restored to its former glory.
Petrolia Mall, at 114th Street and 40th Avenue, was built in the 1960s and was once a dynamic and vibrant part of the neighbourhood.
It began a downward slide in the 1990s after the Safeway pulled out and left behind a legal caveat banning another grocery store on the premises. That caveat was removed when a Giant Tiger discount store opened on the site, but when it closed down recently and left behind only two businesses, lots of vacant space and potholes in the parking lot too numerous to count, the owner foreclosed on the leaseholder.
By then, the mall had become an eyesore in an otherwise desirable neighbourhood.
With that foreclosure now complete, the lease can be put up for sale.
Community leagues in the surrounding neighbourhoods — Greenfield, Aspen Gardens and Royal Gardens — have banded together to create a plan they hope will woo potential new investors. They’ve already hosted a town hall meeting to get input and ideas from residents, and have even showed the site to a handful of prospective developers.
On Friday, they launched the next step in their plan, an online survey — at newpetroliamall.ca — to determine the kinds of businesses and services residents in the communities would support as part of a revitalized mall.
“These are three of the most successful residential neighbourhoods in the city, arguably,” Michael Walters of the Aspen Gardens Community League says.
“If we’re motivated to support new businesses, we’re hopeful that that will be attractive to investors.
“We’re essentially making a business case here by creating a clear picture of what it’s going to take for the mall to succeed.”