Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader

The last of the Forestry warehouses on Main St. at 6th Ave. NE in Slave Lake was demolished last week. From what we’ve been able to find out, it was built in the early 1970s.
“The same year as the liquor store!” says Don Whillier, who worked for Forestry in those days. “The same contractor.”
The liquor store (Slave Lake’s only liquor store until the Ralph Klein government privatized liquor sales in the mid-1990s.) still stands, but it hasn’t been used for that purpose for many years. It is located on 4th Ave. NE, next to the Pioneer Drop-In Centre. The warehouse that was taken down last week was part of a once-extensive Forestry property, with warehouses, a big shop and an airstrip that ran east from that spot.
According to information from the district Forestry office, the building was used by provincial ‘Public Works, Supply and Services’ in the 1980s and 90s. Alberta Infrastructure had it after that and more recently, a private property management company had been leasing it.
The warehouse across the lot was demolished a couple of years ago, after structural problems appeared.

As to what the government plans to do with the empty lot, we’ve not been able to find out, but putting it up for sale is the most likely next step. There was talk, several years ago, of the town seeking a commitment from the province to make it available for future expansion of housing for seniors.