A former Army & Navy discount department store in Edmonton’s Strathcona area has been sold and is undergoing redevelopment.

Kevin Petterson, vice-president of real estate at Edmonton-based Leder Investments, told Global that the company purchased the property at the Corner of Whyte Avenue and Calgary Trail for a little more than $2 million. The previous owner was not identified but was known to be Vancouver’s Cohen family, which started the now-defunct Army & Navy department store chain and expanded it across Western Canada during its 101-year existence.

Plans call for the store to be transformed into a hub. But the exact type of hub has not been determined yet, according to Petterson.

“We’re trying to figure out: What should it be?” he told Global. “What could it be?”

The 1950s-era store is credited with establishing Whyte Avenue as a popular retail and entertainment district. The entire site comprises 28,404 square feet.

“It’s been sitting here vacant for a while, and it needed a new injection of life,” Petterson told Global.

The store closed permanently in 2020 as the entire Army & Navy chain shut down, partly due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the building was used occasionally for special events.

Global reported that the building’s upper floor will feature niche businesses, while the lower level will comprise some form of entertainment space.

“At this point, we haven’t spoken to anybody that’s interested in [leasing] the entire box,” Petterson told CBC. “And, we think that there’s also more character, charm, more local businesses, more different things to do if we turn it into smaller little units. So that’s the current plan.”

Leder welcomes ideas from the public on the former store’s future. Petterson told CBC that he wants to conserve some of the old store building’s character. Plans call for the brick panel along the building’s facade and some other original elements to be maintained, CBC reported.

Marcus & Millichap brokers based in Edmonton and Vancouver helped complete the transaction. The broker team included Edmonton-based Casey McClelland, Kevin Glass and Michael Hoffert and Vancouver-based Mario Negris.