Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Buying up the Gold Range strip may prove more difficult and costly than Mayor Gord Van Tighem estimates.

Bang Pham, holding her dog Jetta, and Loc Bui, stand in front of their Smart Bee Convenience Store. They like the city’s plan for re-developing the street, and would be ready to sell – if the price is right. - Jack Danylchuk/NNSL photo

When the impending purchases of Corner Mart and Instaloan properties forced the city to show its hand last week, Van Tighem said that agreements may be near with other land owners on the block, which is marked for redevelopment.

The city expects to have $6 million in its land fund this year, but agents and an owner of the two bars that set the style and tone for the raucous demimonde say they aren't interested in selling the properties.

"Six million isn't even close to what they need," said Mike Enns, who manages the Raven Pub with his wife Toni. "It might buy the building, but who will walk away from $2 million a year in sales."

Joel Park, whose family has owned the Gold Range Hotel and bar since 2007, said they were "contacted about 18 months ago, and I said then that we're not going to sell.

"This is our livelihood. If the city has $6 million to spend on land, they should spend it somewhere else," Park said: "Long story short, it's not for sale."

Toni Enns said she spoke with building owner Jim Sturge last week at his home in Mexico, and was told that "it's business as usual."

According to Enns, when agents for the city contacted Sturge, he told them "you might be able to buy the building, but the business stays. There would be a 10-year clause in the sale, and that's the way it was left.

Two other property owners, Loc Bui at Smart Bee Convenience Store and Lynn Huang of the Diner, said they might be persuaded - if the price is right.

"That's a very good plan for the city; this street needs to be re-developed," said Loc Bui, who spent $140,000 on renovations since buying the property for 2006 for $265,000.

Bui has lived in Yellowknife for 18 years and feels he has a "social obligation" to aid in redevelopment, but at the right price. The building and store are part of the family's retirement plan.

The city is proposing a housing and commercial development for the block, and Bui would be interested in buying or leasing space, but Huang thinks that as long as the bars are in business and attracting noisy patrons, it will be difficult to persuade people to live there.

Huang paid $450,000 for the Diner a decade ago. Interest on the loan has cost that much, "so if I sell for that price, I don't make any profit - I just pay off the bank.

"I'm a single mother with three girls who will go to university," said Huang, who has upgraded her own education with accounting courses at Aurora College.

"I need an income from a business. A job doesn't pay enough to cover the cost of living in Yellowknife. You need two people working here - one to pay the mortgage and one to pay for living."

The windows of the Diner and the Smart Bee are shuttered at night against the mayhem and vandalism that give the street its black eye.

The Enns and Park say their patrons are not to blame for the public brawling that give the street its reputation for danger after darkness falls.

They point to the liquor store as the source of alcohol that fuels downtown mayhem they blame on street people.

"I clean up after them every day, with a rake, broom and rubber gloves; if you remove the liquor store it will clean up the town core," said Toni.

"The street people need to be dealt with, somehow."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.