The ground has been cleared for the construction of a new Trade Center and Agri-food Hub in Lethbridge, Alberta. The center will be the largest development in the history of Lethbridge and the District Exhibition. It is going to be nearly double the size of the existing center, coming in at around 268,000 square feet. Ward Brothers Construction is managing the construction and has announced that construction will be completed in early 2023. The CAD$70.5 million center will have a variety of meeting rooms of different sizes and a huge kitchen along with one area that will host gathering space that will honor railways with large, exposed timber.
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The project was undertaken because many of the buildings were in need of repair and deterioration. It was becoming unsustainable and increasingly expensive to operate. The exhibition hall itself will use bare concrete and basic materials to reflect the mining industry and will be capable of attracting large trade shows and conferences with up to 7,000 attendees at 110,000 square feet. The agri-food and trade center itself is expected to create nearly 400 construction jobs over three years along with 50 new, full-time permanent positions will be created to operate the facility.
Once operational, the new center is expected to inject over CAD$90 million every year into the regional economy and is funded by the City of Lethbridge, which will maintain ownership of the land, the Government of Alberta, through Alberta’s Recovery Plan, and a 30-year loan secured against the future operations of the facility. “The Agri-food Hub and Trade Centre is going to ignite economic growth, not just in Lethbridge and the southern Alberta economy, but also for Canada`s agricultural industry. It will attract more traffic, both from within the community, but more importantly from throughout the world, to come to Lethbridge,” said Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman.
