The 400-block of George St. is looking a little bare, as two buildings across from the Ramada Hotel were demolished early Saturday morning to make room for future development.
The Prince George Hotel was bought in partnership with the Ramada hotel in January, before being sold to the City. The rest of the block is owned by the Commonwealth Realty Corporation.
The plan was to purchase the land, flatten it, and look for investment opportunities, said Dan McLaren, president of the Commonwealth Financial.
"It's the beginning of the new downtown. For the time being, the plan is to put in a parking lot, but with the intent of future development," said McLaren.
Most of the block is now leveled, save for the P.G. Hotel and Sassafras Savouries. The P.G.Hotel is scheduled to be demolished in late spring or early summer.
The buildings on the block have been standing since the 1920s, said McLaren, cited today as a historic day.
"If you look at the old blue prints, this was the centre of the city. If Prince George was a newspaper, George Street would have been the front page," said McLaren.
Gordon Langer, realtor for the Commonwealth Realty Corporation, said there have been attempts over the last 40 years to revitalize this area of George Street - a lot of talk, but no action.
"There have been a lot of individuals talking about it, but now there's a single vision. And we've put money where our mouth is, we're investing in downtown Prince George," said Langer.
He said they looked at cities across the British Columbia, and even Alberta, when considering where to invest, and Prince George by far was the best option. They looked at developing in Vancouver, Kelowna and Calgary, among others, and decided northern B.C. was the best option.
Furthermore, the 400-block of George Street is C-1 zoning, which means the developers can do almost anything with it, from residential to parking to a liquor store said Langer.
"Prince George was rated most dangerous in Canada. This also means it has the most opportunity," said Langer. "We need to bring people back downtown, to the core of our community."
