Mayor Ken Johnston and 10-year-old Josef Fearon, a Camp Alexo attendee and BBBS little brother, cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the Youth HQ Centre for Social Impact in Red Deer on April 20, 2023. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

grand opening

Youth HQ seeking more tenants for Centre for Social Impact

Apr 20, 2023 | 5:01 PM

Red Deer’s new Centre for Social Impact, operated by Youth HQ, had its grand opening on Thursday, but it’s still looking for tenants.

The day-long open house featured a ribbon-cutting, cake, and even Premier Danielle Smith, who stopped by with Children’s Services Minister Mickey Amery, and Red Deer MLAs Adriana LaGrange (Education Minister) and Jason Stephan.

Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston was also on hand.

The centre, which is located in the Professional Building downtown, is meant to be a hub for non-profits, or otherwise people-serving organizations to call home.

Sixth floor space at the Centre for Social Impact, which is waiting to be filled by non-profits. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

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Its opening was announced in early March after Maclab Properties Group, a private real estate group, donated the space.

“There’s a lot of excitement today. We’ve got a few organizations we’re having conversations with, one planning to come in on our fourth floor on May 1, and a couple others who’ll take up some significant space in late June or early July,” said Rob Lewis, executive director, Youth HQ.

“Right now, we have the fifth and sixth floors which are wide open. We could have a tenant per floor or break them up, but there are 6,000 square feet on each, so it depends what each organization is looking for.”

Lewis says they are ahead of schedule, with the plan still to reach 80 per cent tenancy for the entire building by the end of 2023.

Tenants who were already in the building are staying and count towards that target.

Elder Lynn Jonasson (centre) smudged, prayed and blessed the building in a grand opening ceremony for the Centre for Social Impact in downtown Red Deer Thursday, alongside Mayor Ken Johnston and Premier Danielle Smith. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

Lewis says the fourth floor space they have for non-profits is quickly filling up.

“We have a tiered renting scale, and we’re trying to align a person’s/organization’s rent to the revenue they garner as a non-profit. It’s broken up from $500,000 in revenue to $5 million, with increments in between. Our highest price point is still under market value,” he explains.

“We’re looking for tenants, as well as support from the business community, sponsorship rights, including naming rights for the building, plus corporate contributions. We’d be more than happy to talk at any time.”

Youth HQ continues to utilize its former main location on 49 Street for other services and programming it offers.

READ MORE: Downtown Red Deer’s Professional Building donated to Youth HQ for a non-profit sector hub