Multi-purpose office building new home for the Times

Times Photo by Trevor Busch. NEW DIGS: Danielle Hansen, building operator and co-owner of Hair by Tessa and Danielle, talks about the renovations that have transformed Porch Place.

Porch Place open house this Friday

By Trevor Busch
Taber Times
editor@tabertimes.com

The Taber Times has some new neighbours.
For those curious enough to have popped their head into our old office at 4822 53rd Street in recent months, there’s still a whiff of ink on the air and the chatter of reporter’s keyboards still reverberates, but things have changed dramatically for the office building in 2024. 

After many years serving as the headquarters for The Taber Times, our office building was put up for sale by its owner and was purchased by Hansen’s Excavating & Trucking in March, after which a period of extensive renovations have transformed it from bustling newsroom into a multi-purpose office building with new tenants.

“At first, I was only looking to lease one office for our bookkeeper and myself,” said Danielle Hansen, who shares one of the spaces in the renovated building for her hairstyling business, Hair by Tessa and Danielle. “So then I had seen that this building was for sale, did not realize that it was quite this big. And then the realtor had mentioned that The Taber Times wanted to stay, but they just didn’t need as much space. So then when we got here, I thought it was only this and then we saw that it was more and then my wheels just started turning.”

A shared space for her own business just made sense, said Hansen. The building has now been rebranded as Porch Place. Building hours are officially 8-4 p.m., but many of the businesses operate by appointment only, and can be accessed before or after these standard hours.

“Once I noticed how much space there was – I had already been doing hair out of my house for years and had a salon up in Lethbridge. Knew I did not want to own a salon, but knew that there were people like me that just wanted a small space where they could come and go as they pleased, around their own operation with them within one roof.”

Concentrating multiple businesses under one roof has many advantages, argues Hansen, including increasing foot traffic for all businesses at the location.

“Because I only do it part time, I was like, ‘Well, let’s see if I can find someone else that’s only doing it part time, and then we can just share the space’. But there’s tons of others, so many different businesses only want small spaces. They don’t want to lease a big, huge building. You can cut costs down, and it helps your customers see other signs in here. Their customers see you in here. It just helps get traffic flow, foot traffic.”

Visible renovations throughout the spring and summer had rumours circulating in the community that the venerable Taber Times, 113 years young in 2024, had packed up and shuttered its doors forever. While the appearance of the newspaper each Wednesday should have been enough to quell such disinformation, the rumours persisted to the point where we even felt it necessary to publish a notice in the paper that we were, in fact, still operating.

“They’re still not really finished – still going to paint the back – but from what everybody sees, they’re finished,” said Hansen, commenting on the renovations and the plan to keep the Times and its staff inside the building while they were ongoing.“I think we finished in midsummer. A lot longer than I expected. Not very many people that buy buildings probably do complete renovations, still with tenants in. We did everything in here. The only thing I think that we didn’t do was the roof. We replaced flooring. We repaired the floor. We put new plumbing in back. We framed in three new offices, installed all new signage, painted the front and everything at the front. Painted all the walls. Replaced the roofing tiles, replaced lighting, replaced bathrooms – pretty much top to bottom.”

Porch Place has a social media footprint that adds to exposure for business tenants.

“My daughter runs it. She’s got it on Instagram, and she’s got on Facebook, and she’s been helping showcase all the people. My daughter goes and posts it, and it just keeps going.”

To add some colour to the office’s wall spaces, Hansen is hoping to include some local high school photography.

“I’m in talks with the high schools, all three high schools, because that long hallway is just kind of white and bare. So I went and talked… and we are going to start having a wall that showcases all of the high school student’s photography. So the teacher will be able to choose three students every six months, and then they’re going to send it to me, and then I’m going to put it up. I’ve spoken with them, and they love the idea.”

This Friday, Porch Place is hosting an open house from 1-4 p.m. for the public to come in and see how the office building has been transformed and what some of the businesses here have to offer.

“It’s just going to be just a come in meet and greet, check out the building, see what businesses are in,” said Hansen. “I’m sure lots of people have been wondering what’s going on from seeing it from the outside. Hoping to just show everybody what is in it, and that, yes, there’s a bunch of businesses in here. I’m hoping to do a draw, I’m going to put a basket together. We’re going to have some charcuterie cups. I’ve invited our council, our mayor. I want to invite the development department that I was dealing with. I also want to invite Community Futures, because I went through them and used the grant that the town offers.”

Current tenants in Porch Place include Hansen’s Excavating & Trucking, The Taber Times, Kayla Dagenais RMT, Casey’s Barber/Hairstylist; and Hair by Tessa and Danielle (Tessa Senkow and Danielle Hansen).

Versatility was always part of the vision, says Hansen.

“I just wanted to kind of create a more versatile space that just wasn’t an office, that wasn’t just a beauty industry place, just to show people that you can mix it all in. It doesn’t have to be specifically one industry under one roof.”