LETHBRIDGE – Six08 Health, formerly known as East Meets West, has begun construction on its estimated $4.8 million redevelopment project in downtown Lethbridge.

Thanks to the Targeted Redevelopment Incentive Plan (TRIP) offered through the City of Lethbridge, Six08 will be able to save $616,000 in municipal property taxes over seven years.

“Lethbridge is growing and we knew we needed to expand to keep up,” said Dr. Sean Hantke, Six08 Health’s Clinic Director. “When we were looking at where to create our new home, being part of the downtown just made sense.”

When construction is complete, Six08 will be able to more than double its staff from 30 people to between 75 and 100, which will allow them to offer team-based medical services in several different ways.

“It’ll include things like massage, chiropractic, physiotherapy, traditional medicine and general medicine,” Hantke stated, adding it will be a well-versed spot for comprehensive care.

TRIP was designed and passed by city council last year to help encourage investment in the downtown.

Urban Revitalization Manager Andrew Malcolm says this represents the biggest single private investment in the downtown in nearly 20 years.

“It will bring more people, more activity and more vitality to the downtown and we are optimistic it’s the first of many large redevelopment projects coming to our city’s core,” he continued. “We meet with people about development all the time, but having a successful project and someone standing behind it with their local investment says a lot.”

Depending on the investment, businesses will have a certain period of time where the municipal property tax they would normally have to pay will be cancelled.

The benefit for the city is that once the short-term tax cancellation period ends, the amount of taxes received from the property will be greater than before the redevelopment. In this case, the City of Lethbridge will receive an estimated $88,000 more in annual taxes.

The project is expected to open to the public in February 2020.