By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter)

Fort Macleod weighing offers for historic courthouse building

Jul 10, 2018 | 12:07 PM

FORT MACLEOD – The historic territorial courthouse building in Fort Macleod could soon have a new owner.

Town of Fort Macleod chief administrative officer Sue Keenan said the town has two offers to purchase the building, which has served as the town office since 1971. Faced with the prospect of extensive renovations to the federal and provincial heritage property, the town partnered with the Livingstone Range School Division to convert the former G.R. Davis School into a new town office and school division headquarters.

In an interview, Keenan said the nature of the old building brings challenges and opportunities.

“There’s a lot of renovation and retrofitting that needs to be done in this old building, and quite expensive because it has to meet the standards set by the Ministry of Culture and the standards they have for heritage-designated buildings,” she said.

While there has been a great deal of interest over the past year, with proposed uses ranging from a law firm to a cannabis shop, two “pretty solid” proposals are now before council.

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“One of them is pretty ambitious. It looks at maintaining this building and enhancing it so it’ll be enjoyed by residents and visitors for years to come, so there would be public access,” she said. The other bidder proposes renovations without the same kind of access to the public, she added. The site is presently zoned Public-Industrial.

The hope is for the sale to be wrapped up by the end of the summer.

According to Canada’s Historic Places, the building was constructed as a courthouse for the Northwest Territorial government between 1902-1904, prior to the establishment of the Province of Alberta. It’s one of only two such buildings still standing, with the other in Saskatchewan.

Given Fort Macleod’s heritage character, Keenan said it’s important to preserve, but also expensive, which is why the two proposals are being looked at very closely.

In addition to its historical significance, the building has also served as a filming location, most recently for the movie “Brokeback Mountain” and the “Fargo” TV series.