By Daryl Major/Dominic Abassi

$20M renovation at Nanaimo’s Woodgrove Centre complete

Nov 18, 2016 | 1:35 PM

NANAIMO – A massive makeover at Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo is complete.

A celebration was held Thursday night to mark the end of a $20-million renovation that began in January. The new look to Vancouver Island’s largest shopping centre includes a revamped, larger food court, an improved guest services location and upgraded bathrooms. The mall was given a cleaner and brighter look, with new flooring and lighting. Arguably the most notable aspect of the construction was the removal of the iconic water clock at centre court.

“The clock right now is in storage,” said Woodgrove general manager Julia Dow. “I’m working with mayor Bill McKay at another possible location right here in Nanaimo. We have not had any final decisions but we still are open to looking at all options. We have not discarded it.”

Dow says there were some impressive numbers surrounding the reno work, starting with 90,000 man hours of labour.

“We did 96,000 square feet of tile, 100,000 feet of board that was installed with 45,000 screws,” she said. “120,000 screws were used for framing and 20 different man-lifts zipping around here in the middle of the night at any given time.”

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Among the new features in the improved food court are added seating, phone charging stations and improved recycling facilities.