Restaurant with a view part of SAAG expansion plans
SAAG OFFICIALS PRESENT $2.7M WISH LIST TO F INANCE COMMITTEE
Imagine enjoying a bite to eat with a view of Galt Gardens Park, then taking in an art exhibit at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery.
The addition of a parkoriented restaurant is part of the vision the SAAG has to expand its space, if funding is approved through the City’s next Capital Improvement Program.
The SAAG’s director made a proposal to Finance Committee on Monday to include its facility expansion in the 2018-2021 CIP.
The project, which would add 350 square metres of new space on the northwest corner of the building, would cost approximately $2.7 million.
The goal is to enhance their capacity as a community organization and also to create a new community space, explained Danielle Tait, SAAG’s associate director.
The restaurant would offer panoramic views of Galt Gardens and be leased to a third party, which would generate an estimated $82,000 per year in revenue for the SAAG. The renovations would also include a large multi-use outdoor patio on the northeast side.
“The addition of a restaurant on Galt Gardens ties in really nicely with the redevelopment of Galt Gardens that’s being proposed,” said Tait. “It provides a great opportunity for new tourism. The impact that it will have as far as being a sustainable source of revenue for us is huge.”
To clarify, the restaurateur would not be required to subsidize SAAG, only to pay their share of rent and utilities, said Tait.
As a not-for profit supported by the City of Lethbridge through a Fee for Service Agreement, she said the additional revenue would go a long way.
It’s quite common to have a restaurant within cultural spaces, said Tait, and it’s been on their radar for quite some time. After discussions with community stakeholders, she said they’re getting a lot of support behind investing in the downtown.
“More activity is better. We certainly don’t look at it as competition. We look at it as collaboration and supporting a vibrant downtown core.”
In addition to the restaurant, the SAAG would add a Learning Commons public engagement space, an environmental storage space and functional loading dock, and expanded administrative office space with a common room.
“Our idea, our vision, is that someone could come to the gallery, they could shop in our gift shop, they could go look at our exhibitions, they could participate in programming in our studio classroom ... but they could also partake in self-guided creative activities in our Learning Commons,” said Tait.
The SAAG opened its doors in 1976 and completed a $3.2-million renovation in 2010. That money was invested in adding an elevator, solving accessibility issues, developing a classroom and building their library, explained Tait.
As a result, they have a “great gathering space and kitchen area, used extensively by community groups for facility rentals.” However, the investment in public space meant the administrative space suffered.
“We’ve been able to make do until now, but now that we’re at this point of growth, it’s inefficient, it’s expensive, it’s dangerous to have offsite storage and our admin is at capacity.”
If approved in the next CIP, the design would be completed in 2018, with construction to begin in 2019. The new addition would be operational by Fall 2020.
Construction isn’t anticipated to affect facility operations and they would remain open to the public.
The expansion would take up part of the SAAG’s existing staff parking lot. They said they hope to make an agreement with Casa over the use of a couple spaces.
CIP deliberations will take place in mid-May, with final CIP decisions to be made in June.