Municipal Planning Commission has given the green light for a Red Deer architectural firm to rede-velop a former bowling alley for new offices.

Berry Architecture put forward a proposal this week to redevelop the site formerly occupied by the Bowladrome at 5218 – 50 Ave.

The building’s second floor will be made into new offices, while the main level will be developed into leasable space in the future.

“We believe that this is a very, very good proposal for the existing building, and that it will fit in very well with our aims and objectives for the downtown plan,” said Craig Curtis, City manager.

“It will be a valuable addition.”

Parking for employees of Berry Ar-chitecture isn’t a concern as the company has secured a parking lease from Saputo Foods Ltd. lo-cated to the north of the old Bow-ladrome.

Also, Saputo doesn’t need this parking area as they recently were approved for redevelopment of their site which provides for addi-tional parking and landscaping op-portunities.

MPC also was reminded that the fu-ture purpose of this area, called the Railyards district, will be to feature a “distinctive urban neighbourhood with a high-quality pedestrian en-vironment.

The area will also have medium to high density residential develop-ment and mixed residen-tial/commercial land uses.

According to information provided to MPC, this district has been cre-ated as an interim measure to guide development in the Railyards neighbourhood while awaiting the preparation of an area redevelop-ment plan for the area.

The building also now has a bill-board on its north side which will be removed, as billboards are not permitted in the downtown, MPC was told.

George Berry, CEO of the Berry Ar-chitecture, said that adhering to environmental guidelines will be a critical part of the building’s rede-velopment.

He said the company is prepared to bring all renovations up to a LEED silver upgrade which includes rec-ognition of sustainable site devel-opment, energy efficiency and ma-terials selection.

“It will be an attractive addition to our downtown both in use and in visuals,” said Mayor Morris Flew-welling.

The development is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

mweber@reddeerexpress.com