The sa国际传媒 Legion will move into a new building in January with demolition of their former Bertram Street clubhouse expected to get underway soon.聽
Club members are eager to get back inside their own premises after staging some events the past year at two different downtown locations, president Jim White said Monday.聽
鈥淲e want to find our own piece of dirt and have our own building again,鈥 White said. 鈥淚t took a long time to find a place, but we got one.鈥
The new location isn鈥檛 being publicized yet as there are tenants who will have to move out. But White said the site is downtown, is about the same size as the Bertram Street building, and will have better parking than the previous location.聽
鈥淧arking was a big issue at the other place,鈥 he said.聽
Construction of the new UBCO tower at 550 Doyle Avenue is believed to have caused significant cracks that have appeared in some nearby buildings. The Legion, located just across an alley from UBCOsa国际传媒 building site, was ordered closed late last year.聽
The university has bought the former Legion property, which was assessed at $5 million. White declined to reveal the purchase price, except to say, 鈥淚t was a fair deal for everyone鈥.聽
When the UBCO tower plans were being drawn up a few years ago, there was a suggestion the university might find space for the Legion in the new 43-storey building.聽
鈥淭he members didn鈥檛 want that,鈥 White said. 鈥淎t the time, our building was fine. It was like any other building, until it started to collapse, and then it was, like, 鈥榃hoops鈥.鈥
Some Legion events, such as the popular meat draw and dances, have been held at the curling club and the Italian-Canadian clubhouse over the past year. Membership has stayed above the 700 mark, with some new recruits signing up, White said.聽
The university is paying for the necessary renovations at the new Legion location, he said. The university will also put a trailer on the old site downtown from which the club can stage this fallsa国际传媒 Remembrance Day wreath and poppy campaigns.聽
鈥淲e start planning with those campaigns right after Thanksgiving,鈥 White said. 鈥淭hen we hit the streets the last weekend in October.鈥
The opening of the new clubhouse will be the next big event: 鈥淧eople are getting antsy, they want to get going again with their dinner dances and their fish and chips and their liver and onions.鈥
