Affordable space in downtown Kimberley

After being vacant for a couple of years, the former Fields store has new owners and new prospects

1 of 2Alison Walker and her partners purchased the property that formerly housed the Fields store in Kimberley, B.C. — Marie Milner photo

2 of 2(L to R) Michael duToit and Alison Walker recently bought the former Fields store in Kimberley, B.C. Allison Lomon is assisting with marketing the property. — Shawn Parker photo

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A venture into commercial real estate is a new challenge for Alison Walker and her husband, Michael duToit, and there’s a lot of community interest in their plans.

History and acquisition

The Fields store on Kimberley’s Platzl has sat empty for some time now. Selling the 39,000-square-foot building with its 34,000 square feet of leasable space presented a challenge to real estate companies in this small community, particularly in a cautious economy. The store was built in 1917 and was used until 1955 as a company store for Cominco. After that, ownership bounced between the Hudson’s Bay Co. and Fields, until the late 1980s when extensive renovations were done to convert the building into a mall. The Fields store returned to the site in the early 2000s and closed in 2011.

Realtor Darren Close was the buyer’s agent for the property and was happy to find an interested prospect in Walker and her partners. Close said that the property was listed in 2006 for $870,000 and purchased for $650,000 at that time; Walker was able to buy it in July 2013 for substantially less.

Close said everyone in the community wants to see the building occupied and active.

“Having it sit empty was a challenge for the merchants around it, and that’s why we had the (Kimberley) Arts Council set up art displays and decorate the windows,” he said. “Alison and Mike are the best suited people I know to be involved with this property. They are very progressive and active in the community. They’re well known and well respected, and they have a good reputation for getting things done.”

Mixing it up

“We are working at trying to repurpose the building into something that is a community focused operation,” Walker said. “We’d like to have it provide benefits to numerous organizations throughout the community. The church operating on the lower level of the building is a great example of the type of multi-use that we are envisioning.”

Walker said that the focus for three months has been to get the building cleaned up, repair the roof, and do some upgrades on the mechanical system. The marketing has been very low-key, but Walker and her marketing team will soon put a more concerted effort into leasing out the space.

Arriving at a goal

Walker and duToit have carefully evaluated the property for residential conversion. At this point, due to the current market conditions, neither low-cost housing nor higher-end condos would make sense; there’s already lots of available product in Kimberley at both ends of the spectrum.

“Our goal is to provide affordable, sustainable business, retail and activity space,” Walker said. “I think the building will end up having quite a mixed use—it will be more of a gathering space than a retail centre. Spaces of about 2,000 square feet are available for as low as $6 per square foot, including utilities.”