A high-profile building on the main road in downtown Maple Ridge has a new owner, who has plans to do an extreme makeover.
SBK Properties, of Vancouver, bought the 13,420-sq.-ft building that houses the Bella Vita restaurant recently for $2.5 million. It had been listed for $2.7 million.
The building is located at 22471 Lougheed Hwy.
"It's a project building that we think there's a good opportunity there to update the building," said Cory Wright, of William Wright Commercial, in Vancouver.
The company handled the transaction and will manage the renovation project.
"It'll be a full restoration [exterior and interior], new roof and everything."
Ownership changes on June 1 and the goal is to get plans into the city in the next few weeks. The intent is to do the renovations around the tenants, as possible, during the renovations.
One of the building's larger tenants, though, will be looking for a new home as a result of the purchase.
Alouette Addictions Services, which leases the top part of the building, will have to move out by July 1 to allow the renovations to proceed.
The non-profit agency has leased the 3,000-sq.-foot location for 10 years.
"There's just not a lot of 3,000-sq.-foot buildings. I'm sure something will come up," said Annika Polegato, executive-director.
About 20 staff work out of the counselling agency.
It won't be possible to offer counselling services while full-scale renovations are underway.
A new elevator is planned for the current location of the office.
Cost for the refit will be between $800,000 to a $1 million.
"We'll try to maintain as much of the history of the building as possible," Wright said.
The building was only up for sale for a few days and there were other offers.
The building opened in 1972 and has always been known as the Bella Vita building, said Val Patenaude, with the Maple Ridge Museum.
In addition to the ground-floor restaurant, the building also has a nail shop and hair salon.
Meanwhile, the fourth and final phase of the downtown restoration is about to begin. It will see a rebuilt Lougheed Highway, new sidewalks, trees and street furniture from 224th to 226th streets.
Funding for that was recently announced, with all three levels of government contributing to the $3.4 million cost.
The new Wal-Mart store is nearby, the rebuild of Selkirk Avenue is complete and the second phase of Falcon Village condos, located between Haney Place and Valley Fair malls, has begun. Valley Fair Mall is also about to be renovated.