“I have clients that want to get good retail space and can’t find it,” he adds. “The only available stuff is stuff that is perhaps not quite as visible.”
“There is more empty commercial space than normal, when compared with pre-2007,” said Cam Jenkins of Coldwell Banker Jasper-Hinton Realty. “I just did three commercial leases in the past three months, so I’m hoping the optimism is there that the business is starting to come around.”
Highly visible buildings are snapped up quickly, he said, referencing Jasper Camera and Gift and La Fiesta.
Even the space next to Jasper Rock and Jade will be home to Jasper Artists Guild (JAG) this summer.
“I’ve been in town for 22 years, there’s always one or two spots available,” said Jenkins.
Aside from what used to be the Cash Store building near Tim Horton’s, most of the empty commercial spaces are second-floor office spaces, explained Potter. These are less in demand than retail space because people have the option of working in their own home office.
Potentially, second-floor office spaces can be converted into rental units, if owners choose to take that route. Given the housing shortage, “if you convert, you’re going to have the space rented,” said Potter.
The zoning in that district allows for second stories to be apartment housing, said Cathy Jenkins, manager of municipal and realty services for Jasper National Park. It’s “totally feasible and highly encouraged. It’s an anomaly from before where if there’s commercial downstairs there’s commercial upstairs.”
Assigning a parking spot to the newly converted rental unit can be tricky, but there are solutions. One is to “waive a commercial [stall] and purchase it form the parking authority. So one thing they could do is turn a commercial stall into a residential stall.”
Since the units would be suitable for only one family, only one stall is required.
Although converting a few second-floor commercial spaces into rental units wouldn’t relieve the housing situation—Cam Jenkins has a list of almost 100 people waiting for apartments—Cathy Jenkins welcomes the idea and other ideas about what people want.
“We welcome ideas, that was part of why we had that housing meeting with the residents.” A meeting with commercial owners will happen soon, too, she adds.
“There is land out there to build, so let’s get together and make it happen.”
