A social hub for Coquitlam’s Burke Mountain residents will open this fall near the Partington Creek neighbourhood.
And it will have a café run by a business that’s already made a name for itself on Westwood Plateau: Beanery.
Monday, the city announced that PGA Hospitality, which operates Beanery Coffeehouse & Eatery, won the contract to operate the café at the newly built Burke Mountain Discovery Centre.
The choice of a Tri-City business for a high-profile municipal building follows the recent selection of Rocky Point Ice Cream for the new concession stand at Town Centre Park, near Lafarge Lake.
In her report to council-in-committee, Michelle Hunt, general manager of finance, lands and police, wrote that PGA has a history of inclusiveness, as it employs women and people of colour.
The company will design and construct its new Burke café, which will be called IBEX Café and Kitchen, and serve alcohol.
Budgeted to cost $3.75 million, the Burke Mountain Discovery Centre and Café is about 3,800 sq. ft. and will have an outdoor patio with views of Mt. Baker, a parking lot with two electric vehicle chargers and room for food trucks as well as washrooms for visitors and hikers.
Located at the southeast corner of David and Princeton avenues, the centre will also be a link from the mountain’s residential communities — Upper Hyde Creek, Lower Hyde Creek and Smiling Creek neighbourhoods — to the upcoming commercial district: Burke Mountain Village.
Besides the café, the hub will feature future plans for the village and other land developments; it will also be a central spot for residents to learn about parks, trails and schools being built in the area.
And on the walls will be murals, including a custom piece of Burke Mountain by Anja Jane, plus maps and historical scenes.
About 50,000 residents are expected to call Burke Mountain home over the next 20 years including in Northwest Burke.
