Yellowknife's Gallery to be replaced with federal office building

A well-known building in the heart of downtown Yellowknife will be torn down and replaced with a new office building housing about 300 federal employees of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

The new five-storey structure will be built on Franklin Avenue atthe site of the former Gallery building, once home to the Gallery and Cave Club bars.

The loss of the Gallery building will likely make some residents and former patrons nostalgic, conceded Mayor Gordon Van Tighem.

"Everyone will have memories of it, but as far as a loss, it's probably a net gain," Van Tighem said Thursday.

"What you're getting is something new, something that's more environmentally friendly, more energy efficient and, hopefully, much better to look at."

Once built, the new building will house 300 civil servants from theIndian and Northern Affairs Departmentwho are currently workingatvarious locationsaround the city.

"Indian and Northern Affairs Canada has a number of leases in office buildings throughout Yellowknife that are coming due, and this was an opportunity to bring back together, at INAC's request, all of their staff," department spokesman Chris Konski told CBC News.

The $20-million construction project will be the first in Yellowknife for Dundee Real Estate Investment Trust, a Toronto-based company that moved into the city's commercial real state market in May 2006.

That was when Dundee purchased Bellanca Developments Ltd. for $97.1 million, and in doing so, acquired over 70 per cent of the city's prime office space: the Northwest Tower, the Bellanca Building, Scotia Centre and the Precambrian building.

The company plans to start removing material from the Gallery building this year, then tear it down next year, said Sidney Waskiewich, a seniorleasing manager with Dundee Realty Management Corp., a subsidiary of the company.

"The whole project time frame will be about 26 to 27 months," Waskiewich said. "The tenant will be taking occupancy near the end of 2011."

The federal department has agreed to lease the building for 10 years, at a cost of $28.6 million.

Van Tighem said Yellowknifers will have a chance to comment on the new building after Dundee submits detailed designs for it.