WESTLOCK – Capri Mall ownership has received a three-month reprieve to remedy a host of deficiencies at the facility that include non-functioning sprinkler and fire alarm systems, or it will be permanently closed.
At their June 12 meeting, Town of Westlock councillors voted 7-0 to “vary” three previous orders and set Sept. 12 as the date when the laundry list of building, fire and electrical code issues will need to be fixed — Capri Mall was slated to shutter May 26 following a 15-day closure order issued by the Town of Westlock that claimed it “presents a potential risk to the public or any tenant.” Following that deadline, the Calgary-based Capri Capital Corp., submitted a written request for a “council review” of the orders May 19 as per Section 547 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), with mall owner Vince (Lal) Narang, mall tenants, contractors and lawyers appearing at the Monday-night meeting.
Following a 45-minute behind-closed-door discussion, councillors emerged and voted 7-0 on a motion from Coun. Murtaza Jamaly to vary the Enforcement Order File No. 2023-0079 to extend the deadline date to Sept. 12 for closing the building to public occupancy, having tenants vacate the site, and for Capri Capital Corp. to comply with all of the requirements of the order — previously those dates were May 26, June 5 and Aug. 7
The 56-page enforcement order was included in the June 12 agenda package and details issues ranging from non-functioning sprinkler and fire alarm systems, to fire extinguishers that haven’t been serviced in five years or more and exterior support posts installed without a building permit with many “loose and not supporting any structure.”
“That’s the best we can do,” said mayor Ralph Leriger. “I want to be clear, we aren’t evicting anyone here … towns don’t evict people, landlords evict people. We enforce the orders that we have to. So, let’s be clear, I don’t want to hear that we’re evicting anyone, because clearly we’re not.”
Following an April 10 inspection of the mall pursuant to the MGA, the municipality said that the “only remedy available to the town is to prohibit occupancy until safety concerns have been addressed.” Specifically, the town issued three orders at that time citing building code, fire code and electrical code deficiencies with CAO Simone Wiley saying that, “The items that were found during the inspection were such that it was determined that it’s not safe for public occupancy.”
Affected businesses, who were informed May 1 of the inspection and the impending closure, include Small Town Vapes, Top Shelf Liquor, Westlock Barber Shop, and Your Dollar Store with More — since, former tenant Integra Agencies Ltd. has moved to a new location, while the barber shop has announced via social media it’s moving to a new location, while over the past year, Domino’s Pizza shuttered and Health Smart Wellness & Massage moved downtown.
“This mall just didn’t fall apart yesterday, it’s been like that for a couple of decades and we haven’t seen much effort to keep it up as it should be. We pride ourselves on asset management as a community and I think we lead the county in communities our size for asset management and don’t see that being practiced at Capri Mall,” said Leriger.
“But we care a great deal about our businesses and they’re important to our community and we want to do what we can to keep them viable. But we expect that you act expediently, don’t think that this goes away.”
Owner and tenants respond
Narang, who’s also the co-founder, CEO and director of Green Rise Foods, Inc., said they’ve tried to “maintain the property in the best way that we can” but admitted it requires “a significant amount of work.” He talked about an “incident” that occurred a few winters ago where a “system” froze in the old Brick location which led to many of the issues they currently face.
A May 19 letter to the town from Keith Marlowe of the Calgary law firm Blake, Cassel & Graydon LLP, stated ownership objected to the findings of the town’s inspection that the mall was unsightly and a “danger to public safety” and acknowledged that while “there are issues with the mall” they didn’t agree that “those issues rise to the level of requiring tenant in the mall to be vacated.”
Saying he’s committing to working with the tenants to improve the facility, Narang said since receiving the initial order they’ve employed specialists for the fire code and general maintenance issues and have handled “a good portion of the cosmetic issues.”
“Clearly there is a deficiency in the building and it’s going to take some significant dollars to bring that thing to the current code as it sits within the order. I have no idea right now what those numbers look like and simply haven’t had the time to get that information,” said Narang. “It’s not that we haven’t acted … when I take a look at the totality of what’s in front of me, I need to have more information before I can understand what it’s going to take to fix.”
A handful of tenants also spoke to council, with Top Shelf Liquor owner Ranu Chawla saying, “evicting the tenants without due consideration for the circumstances without exploring alternative solutions is a short-sighted approached” and implored the town to establish a dialogue with the tenants to find a solution as “relocation won’t be easy as it’s going to cost a lot of time and money.” Small Town Vapes owners Jeremy and Colette Guenette were also in attendance with Colette saying the closure notice “was a real shock” and “infected us all as a family, mentally and emotionally.”
“We have weathered storms, we have participated in location initiatives and invested in the growth and wellbeing within our neighbourhoods. We must remember that the success of our businesses is closely tied to the success of our community as a whole,” said Chawla. “We want to stay, we don’t want to leave. Our success in the community is the community’s success also and our struggles are the community’s struggle and together we can overcome these challenges and emerge stronger, ensuring the economy strives, the neighbourhood flourishes and residents have places to buy whatever they need.”
Westlock Barber Shop owner Ali Aboughauche, who appeared via Zoom, said his business had recently just celebrated its one-year anniversary in early May and “would love to stay” but if not, “we need more time just to relocate.” Kushal Parikh, owner of Your Dollar Store with More, admitted that the initial closure notice “was really shocking” as if they were forced to pack up at their merchandise and find a new location, it would take months.
“We’d love to stay where we are,” Parikh added.
According to previous reporting, the first development permit for the mall was issued August 1971 and the first business was a steakhouse in 1972, followed by the gas station Pacifica Petroleum the following year. From 1973 to 1998, the mall, located at the corner of highways 44 and 18, was a thriving shopping centre and featured many local businesses, while during that time there were several modifications and additions to the original structure. By the turn of the century the shopping centre was in foreclosure and was acquired by Capri Capital Corp.
