The site has been used for a circus, a city pop-up park and a garden centre.
And, starting June 22, the lot at the northeastern corner of Coquitlam Centre will be transformed for the world’s largest bounce park.
On Monday, May 27, city council OK’d a temporary use permit for FunBox Holdings to inflate its family playground until Labour Day, generating up to 28 seasonal jobs for young people and creating economic spinoffs for tourism.
Franchisee Mike Druce said it’s the first time FunBox will have its entertainment centre in Canada after launching its playgrounds in 2021 in the U.S.
It plans to be open on Fridays from 3 to 8 p.m. and on the weekends from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Druce told council during an hour-long public input session on the bid that drew no outside speakers.
Empty gravel lot
Still, while they welcomed the business to Coquitlam, Mayor Richard Stewart and councillors voiced frustration about the vacant lot itself, saying Morguard — the mall’s managers — needs to build the 18-storey office tower it promised nearly 20 years ago.
In 2005, Morguard and the property owner, Pensionfund Realty Ltd., received a development permit to construct a retail and commercial building for the site.
Andrew Merrill, Coquitlam’s general manager of planning and development, said, as part of that permit, Morguard was to transfer about 8,000 sq. ft. of its permitted density to the Intergulf development to the north, at 2962 Glen Dr.
And while the residential portion is now complete, the office building still hasn’t gone up along The High Street.
As a result, Coun. Robert Mazzarolo concluded, Coquitlam is out 171,000 sq. ft. of much-needed office space for approximately 1,140 jobs.
“The issue here is with the owner of the property and I will not facilitate this owner continuing to defer their banked commercial and office spaces here any longer,” he said.
But city manager Raul Allueva said the municipality can’t compel Morguard to develop the land despite its obligations to the site, nor does it have any penalties for delays.
Merrill added the property is also key to the mall’s future redevelopment, which he said is now on pause due to economic challenges.
However, Eric Kalnins, Coquitlam’s economic development manger, said while office space is in demand in the Tri-Cities — showing a 2.7 per cent vacancy rate — FunBox’s inflatable theme park will be a short-term attraction for the City Centre neighbourhood.
Coun. Brent Asmundson, who voted against the temporary use permit bid with Couns. Mazzarolo and Trish Mandewo, said he would have liked to have seen FunBox placed away from residents in the adjacent towers, like on the mall’s southwestern parking lot where West Coast Amusements sets up its carnival.
