Residents of the Grand Tracadie area will get a renewed version of the past as construction work on a well-known fish processing facility resumed last week.
Its revival is part of the larger $30-million Blackbush at Tracadie Harbour resort project announced by APM in 2017. The 80-acre development project includes a 23-unit eco-lodge, 20 seasonal units and 41 private building lots. The new fish facility will be called the Fish Factory. It is expected to be completed on Sept. 1, whereas the overall development, including the eco-lodge, is expected to be completed in the spring of 2023, said Tim Banks, the developer and CEO of APM.
"My goal at the end of the day in developing the area is to create social development and employment for the area. It's something that I don't have to do but something that I want to do," he said.
The area is known for having a fish processing facility. The new Fish Factory is being built on the spot of a previous structure that burned down in the early 2000s.
Banks said the overall project, located on Beach Road near the P.E.I. National Park, is inspired by Zita Cobb's Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland.
Last fall, the foundation for the Fish Factory was put in place, and work on the two-level building's structure began last week. The building's overall size is about 6,000 square feet, said Banks.
Banks said the building will also have public washrooms and an outdoor shower for people using the beach.
The idea is to have three to four people working there during the winter months and up to 12 people in the summer. Without equipment, the cost of constructing the fish factory is around $600,000.
"I'm hoping we'll be able to do something in the Grand Tracadie community that will transpire into a seasonal business to employ youth and people within the area and also try to maintain it in the winter to see that it provides quality products to the local market."
"We're going to operate it ourselves and try to work with the community as closely as we can. It's kind of a pet project for me," he said. "I'm hoping we'll be able to do something in the Grand Tracadie community that will transpire into a seasonal business to employ youth and people within the area and also try to maintain it in the winter to see that it provides quality products to the local market."
As well as processing seafood for local markets, the plan involves preparing seafood items, such as oysters, fish and chips or seafood chowder, on the lower level for consumption in the building's upper level. It won't involve restaurant dining service but a space for people to sit and eat.
That upper level will also serve as a meeting and convention space, he said.
"Blackbush resort is one of my personal projects. It's something that I've been working on for a number of years, and (I'm) going to continue to try and step it up a bit here. You know, there's going to be a lot of pressure in our economy, and the only way to make it work is provide some options, and that's what we're doing," he said.
