(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

back up for sale soon

Downtown Greyhound building comes down with ground remediation needed

Jun 28, 2022 | 4:43 PM

The former Greyhound bus station in downtown Red Deer is no more.

The building, which was at the corner of Gaetz Avenue and 43 Street, was demolished on Monday.

A buyer for the property has not been found as of yet, with remediation work ongoing.

“Going back a long time, to when an auto business was there, and they were doing oil changes, there were underground storage tanks. Those, at one point, were remediated, but also had holes in them, so there was some contamination,” explains Wes Giesbrecht, with Century 21 Advantage, the company handing the property’s sale.

“Soil sampling done previously found the contaminated area and determined that in order to fix it, the building would have to come down.”

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The building, which Giesbrecht estimates was built in the 1970s, was constructed with vermiculite-based insulation, which is asbestos-containing.

Greyhound Canada, which had been at that location since the mid-1990s, vacated in fall 2018. Then in March 2021, Greyhound announced it was ceasing virtually all operations across Canada.

Reports show that German company FlixMobility announced last fall it was purchasing Greyhound’s assets for $172 million from U.K.-based FirstGroup, which purchased the company in 2007.

Giesbrecht says a listing agreement is back on the table, and should be finalized soon, with remediation anticipated to be done by end of the year.

“This 0.7 acre lot will be available in the near future. To clean it up though, they have to dig down quite a ways. Fortunately, there was no seepage issues related to the creek at the back. Also notable is that there’s an escarpment at the back, which is usable for parking, but not to build on,” says Giesbrecht.

“There is a ton of opportunity for a C1-zoned property like this. It’s a little challenging with the escarpment, in that it causes certain restrictions. But there are some relaxations that come with geotechnical studies, one of which has been done.”

Giesbrecht says it’s speculative, but there is one use he could see being a perfect fit.

“You can do a variety of things here, but when you’re talking about urgent care facilities, there couldn’t be a better spot, especially with its access points. It will be a hit commodity once it hits the market. When it comes to north-south Gaetz Avenue, there’s not much available, and we’re getting phone calls about it often.”

The property was listed for sale about half a decade ago for $1.25 million.