24 June 2009
Station Project Staying on Track
Canadian Pacific Railway Nelson station - 1989 Robert
Turner.
Nelson British Columbia - Nelson District Chamber
of Commerce (NDCC) is in the process of finalizing a Memorandum of Understanding with Canadian Pacific Railway that will lead to
acquisition and rehabilitation of Nelson's historic CPR rail station.
The project is a premier opportunity for the chamber to show leadership in development of a Regional Visitor Gateway for the West
Kootenay region, while catalyzing development of one of the last significant expanse of vacant land in Nelson.
Project Vision and Benefits are clearly in alignment with City of Nelson's mandates and goals with respect to tourism, planning,
heritage, economic development, and diversification.
The Station project will fully restore one of the area's most treasured landmarks, designated in 1992 as a "Class A"
heritage structure due to its historical and architectural significance.
Inside the building, a full service Regional Visitor Information Centre will complement an interpretive display that showcases the
area's character, businesses, investment opportunities, heritage, and cultural diversity. The centre will feature a special
"Made in the Kootenays" marketing showcase for high margin value added export business. Next door, new offices for the
Chamber of Commerce, the Nelson Economic Development Partnership, and a new Regional Destination Marketing Organization will be
housed. A range of private and public sector uses will fill the remaining portions of the building, adding to the vibrancy of this new
place of business.
The station's attractiveness to the tourist and local tourism operators, combined with the gateway redevelopment initiated by the city
over adjacent Cottonwood Creek and Hwy 3A, will produce tremendous increases in visitor traffic, resulting in more trade for all
tourism businesses in the region.
The Gateway Centre will focus emerging efforts for destination marketing in the region, and house the co-ordinating
functions facilitating the West Kootenay's contribution to the provincial government's goal of doubling tourism revenues by 2015.
The station building itself will be a critical addition to the region's heritage tourism asset base. As an outstanding example of this
type of architecture in Western Canada, the building alone will draw new cultural tourist traffic to the region.
Following comprehensive studies, community consultation, and business case scenarios being developed and reviewed, the chamber Board
of Directors have made a final commitment to move forward on the transfer agreement negotiations with CP Rail on the station transfer.
The board felt that the heritage building needs to become a community asset in the chamber's hands, to help mitigate any further
deterioration of the structure.
How soon and to what extent rehabilitation takes place is still to be determined. There will still be a few formalities to iron out,
but the process is drawing to a close. The chamber feels it has a very solid case for short-term job creation, and
long-term economic development opportunities with the project. Two key criteria in qualifying for federal or provincial
infrastructure grants. Applications have been and will continue to be developed to secure the funding necessary for full restoration
of the station, an important piece of Nelson history.
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