Penhold’s commercial landscape is changing quickly.
Penhold Pharmacy opened for business on Monday, following on the heals of a Subway restaurant and a Re/Max Real Estate office in the same 8,000-square-foot building.
A medical clinic and a dental clinic are expected to arrive on the scene in April, said pharmacist Steven Busse, who developed the building.
Nearby, work is progressing on a 16,000-square-foot building that will house a new grocery store.
“We should be open by the end of May,” said Gerry Knebel, who owns the existing First Choice Family Foods in Penhold as well as Blackfalds Family Foods.
“We’ve got it all enclosed and heated, and the floor is all poured, so now it’s just a matter of working inside.”
Knebel plans to lease out about 3,000 square feet of the building, and has already struck a deal for a financial institution to operate an agency branch in a third of that space.
“We’re in negotiations with a restaurant for our other two spots,” he said.
Also going up in the area is an 8,750-square-foot commercial building. Delbert Shultz, a partner with KevRan Developments of Red Deer — the general contractor and a joint venture partner in the project — said the building will have four lease bays.
Negotiations with prospective tenants for two are underway, he confirmed.
“They’ll be ready for leasehold improvements in probably two months.”
Busse, who is a partner in Sylvan Lake Pharmacy, is splitting his time between Penhold and Sylvan Lake.
But he’s hired a full-time pharmacist for the new pharmacy.
The dental clinic will be operated by Isaac Day and Jacob Day of Innisfail’s Day Dental, said Busse.
The names of the doctors who will practise there are still to be released.
Penhold has experienced rapid residential growth in recent years, and Shultz thinks the town’s current commercial boom will bring more.
“Once this gets going, I can see the town really expanding from here.”
hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com