#5, the downtown fire that consumed an apartment at the corner of 1st and High Street West. #4, 33 tornadoes that touched down this summer in Saskatchewan. #3, Deb Higgins becoming the first female mayor in the history of Moose Jaw.

That brings us to #2 as we countdown the Top 5 Local News Stories of the Year and that honour goes to the $25 million worth of commercial development announced in May known as the Civic Centre Plaza.  
May 29th, Colliers International announced they would be demolishing the Civic Centre to make way for a new open air shopping centre on Main Street. With a skyline that mimics the old rink, there was a lot of buzz created by the announcement. The Civic Centre Plaza will be 72,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space that will take over the spot where the Crushed Can stood.

Bill Babey of Colliers International, the parent company of the new project, talked about their goals as he revealed concept drawings. "What we're trying to do is use the natural aesthetics of the golf course next door and make that part of the overall plan. We've obviously had several national restaurant chains. They love the idea of overlooking a golf course with a patio, so I'm guessing we can do a few restaurant leases for some new chains. I can't tell you who they are, because they aren't signed yet."

Babey was very clear that they want to work to enhance the mall with this project and create a synergy between the two properties, making the area very popular for years to come.

While the company demolished the Civic Centre to make way for their new development, they promised to pay tribute to the iconic structure with the main building on the commercial site according to Rod Ziegler with Walker Projects, the architects of the development.

"For me, this is just a tremendous opportunity to take an icon and create a new icon. The shape, I've always loved the shape and I believed from day one that the shape should be maintained and we'll create a new home. The Crushed Can look, created in the massive curtain (glass) wall overlooking the golf course is just tremendous."

While many were very interested in the Civic Centre Plaza announcement, a group representing the Town n Country Mall made a presentation to Moose Jaw City Council in an attempt to prevent the project from going ahead. As Colliers International applied for rezoning of the property to allow for commercial development, the mall opposed the development saying it would harm their investment.  Councillor Don Mitchell also voiced his opposition, saying the mall was not consulted and there wasn't enough consideration being given to the new development's impact.  

"The role of the city should be to step back and put a freeze in effect.'' argued Mitchell. "But given that the options are to pass or defeat, I think the bylaw should be defeated on third reading and give time for the parties to sort out these important agreements on shared access to parking and the implications on the zoning change impact on the Town N Country Mall."

But many councillors argued that the mall had since the fall of 2011 to voice their concerns, when the Civic Centre was first put on the market.  It was advertised a second time in January but it wasn't until the May 28th meeting to re-zone, a day before the Plaza was unveiled to the public, that anyone spoke up on behalf of the mall.

The saga around the Civic Centre continued into August as demolition of the rink was to begin.  The work was put off several times before heavy equipment was finally brought in. Even then, the demolition didn't go according to plan. As work began, crews soon found out the building was a lot tougher than they first anticipated. They started to chip away and soon realized there was a tremendous amount of rebar hidden within the concrete pillars.

The original plan was to simply weaken the sides and then let the weight of the roof pull the building in on itself.  That didn't happen and demolition actually took nearly two weeks before all of the walls were pushed in.  The final bricks came crashing down September 11th.

The developer is still planning to start construction in the spring of 2013.