Boundary residents may just miss out on playing a local game of Roll Up the Rim next spring, as they watch a new Tim Hortons restaurant go up in the parking lot of the Save-on-Foods shopping centre in Grand Forks.
The landowner and developers for the site have received a building permit for the restaurant and last week announced their intentions to renew a development permit for the project (their existing permit was set to expire at the end of the month).
With council’s approval, the developer, Alcar Investments, and store owners Paul and Beryl Stawarz are expecting to begin building the restaurant this fall.
Plans presented to council on June 15 show the new building taking up the southwest quarter of the plaza’s parking lot. To accommodate the building and its drive-thru, property owner Alan Hannebauer of Alcar Investments said that the entrances to the parking lot from 4th Street and 5th Street will be pushed further north (towards Fields, BC Liquor Store and Save-on-Foods) and will feed a through-lane of traffic.
Hannebauer said that the project went to tender twice in 2018, but said that “the overheated construction industry in British Columbia” meant that quoted prices were too high at the time. Hannebauer said that he has connected with local contractors to complete the project this time around.
Representatives from a consulting firm said that the store would employ between 30 and 35 local employees.