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Melting snow brings down part of Christina Lake mini mall

Mural destroyed in collapse, according to the mall’s owner
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The middle section of Christina Lake’s old mini mall lies in ruins after the roof caved in Monday, March 1. Photo: Facebook - Pat Johnston

Melting snow brought down the middle section of Christina Lake’s mini mall early Monday, March 1.

Owner Randy Gilbert said the mini mall came with the Christina Lake Motel & RV Park at 19 West Lake Dr. when he and his wife bought the business in 2020.

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“We managed to salvage both motels on the site, plus the campground and the mini mall was going to be our project for this year,” Gilbert told The Gazette Monday evening.

The roof was done in by February’s freeze/thaw cycle, he said.

The mini mall is renowned for its odd orientation, the result of a dispute with the ministry of transportation, which didn’t grant highway access to the original owner. Gilbert said the owner then built the mini mall in three sections facing away from Highway 3.

The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary’s Area C later commissioned two murals to make the buildings a little more inviting, according to Director Grace McGregor.

A mural of a little girl playing in a sandbox didn’t survive Monday’s collapse, but the mural of Cascade Falls remains in back of the mini mall’s laundromat, which Gilbert said wasn’t affected by Monday’s collapse.

“This was the last thing they needed,” McGregor said of the Gilberts, praising the couple for having bought the motel and RV park after they’d sat abandoned for three years.

“We needed someone to buy that place who really cared and that’s who they are,” she said.

FortisBC crews confirmed there were no gas leaks anywhere in the mini mall, a company spokesperson said Monday afternoon.


 

@ltritsch1
laurie.tritschler@grandforksgazette.ca

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laurie.tritschler@boundarycreektimes.com

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