Development of the new Memorial Marketplace is underway in downtown Belleville.
Taskforce Engineering Ltd. is redeveloping the former Memorial Arena site into a marketplace. The site includes the former arena as well as the Legion building.
Taskforce Engineering won the bid to redevelop the Memorial Arena and the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 99 building in November 2019 but work didn’t get underway until this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Redevelopment of the area has left some questions as to what the next steps will be for Branch 99.
President of the Belleville Legion, Shirley Stewart, says the lease on the building is set to expire on December 31, 2023 with the Legion looking at different buildings to move into.
“We have a new committee that is looking for buildings and we’re hoping that we can find one by October so we can move in by December,” Stewart tells Quinte News.
Stewart says the search for the new building is proving tough for the Legion. “While our committee is out searching every day looking for buildings to see what we can afford out there, it is hard.”
“The building we have right now is 7000 square feet so we do have to downsize just so that it’s something that we can afford.”
While she’s confident the Legion will find a building, Stewart says she doesn’t believe a building will be found by October.
“We might have to store stuff for a couple of months until we find the right spot for us.”
Stewart says if people know of a building that the Legion could move into, to contact them.
On the August 11 edition of The Lorne Brooker Show, Joe Shunock of Ekort Realty said from what he understood the Legion building was part of step two in the development process.
“I’m not privy to a lot of those discussions but from what I understand, the building is not really conducive to (residences). It’s a real costly piece,” Shunock said.
“I think ultimately that site will serve as parking and commercial delivery which will feed the 20,000 square foot commercial development.”
Drawings and floor plans of the planned marketplace can be found on the Memorial Market Place website.
