Edmonton City Centre mall, in Edmonton on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. The mall has been acquired by Edmonton-based developer Westrich Pacific Corp. Under new ownership the mall could see about 1,500 new residential units on the site of the former Hudson's Bay store, plus street-fronted retail, a rooftop Nordic spa, and other entertainment. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

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Walk through the doors from Commerce Place into the Edmonton City Centre mall, and you’re greeted with the sharp scent of urine. On ground level of the shopping centre’s west side, the number of retail spaces that are papered overwhelm the places that are in business. It feels like mall security and peace officers outnumber the shoppers.

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Art installations in the mall are pretty to look at, but cover up the fact that there are even more retail spaces begging to be occupied. At the far end of the mall, multiple floors of the former Hudson’s Bay location look like they could double as the setting for a sequel of Backrooms.

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But, where most of us see a bankrupt shopping centre, David Sanche sees treasure. Sanche is the co-CEO of Westrich Pacific, which is set to acquire the mall from Otera Capital in a deal made through the Alberta Court of King’s Bench. Otera took over after the mall fell into debt of $139.5 million and went into receivership.

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Sanche said the sale price can’t be disclosed until the sale closes later in 2026. That’s a condition placed on the sale by the receiver. But it will be far less than the $300 million-plus paid in 2019 by LaSalle Canada for the mall plus TD Tower, Oxford Tower and Centre Point Place. It was a real estate transfer of more than 1.4 million square feet.

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Other reports have pinned Westrich Pacific’s purchase price at $57 million.

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Sanche called the acquisition of the mall a “once in a generation opportunity.”

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The first order of business is to transform the former Bay department store into 1,500 residential units. The second step is to beautify the exterior. Then comes the mission to find anchor tenants who will act as attractors for people who want to live in the mall complex. Then comes the job of building amenities, such as pickleball courts and a rooftop Nordic spa.

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But Sanche said this is a process that will take years, and his company can’t do it on its own.

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“It’s transformational, and it can’t happen without major stakeholders,” said Sanche. “It’s going to be a partnership with the city of Edmonton. This is too big for us. But we’re confident in this if we have the right partners, the right stakeholders, all doing it together. We want to make the city great. We live and work here, and we’re passionate about Downtown.

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“But we think it’s going to take many years, and it’s very, very challenging. But if we take it in baby steps, we can make it successful with the right support, with the right partners.”

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Sanche doesn’t say the residents will live close to a mall. He’s very deliberate when he says they will live inside a mall.

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“There’s nothing like it in North America. You have to go to Singapore or somewhere like that where you live on top of a stacked mall. So, in minus 40, you can walk to church, you can walk to the theatre, walk to Shoppers Drug Mart, you can walk to 28 office towers, you can go to downstairs in your elevator into an LRT and be at the U of A and at class in four minutes. You name it, anything you want is touching indoors. You never step outside. Everything you could ever want, whether it’s go to an Oilers game, sports and entertainment, casinos, restaurants, education facilities, shopping, employment, any service.”