INNISFAIL – Dr. Isaac Day now walks by the historic Dr. George Kemp House every day to get to work.
The 38-year-old dentist said he especially loves the heritage house’s stunning red brick exterior.
“That red brick at the Kemp House weathers the hail and storms. It is going to last,” said Isaac of the 51st Avenue structure that has stood proudly in Innisfail for more than 125 years.
“It’s a landmark. Our thought was that we were inspired by that landmark Kemp House, and we hope 50 or 75 years from now this building becomes a landmark as well.”
The red bricked Kemp House inspired Isaac and his younger brother Jacob to create the same classic look for their stunning new two-story Day Dental Professional Building at 4890 - 52nd St.
With red brick adorning both exterior and interior walls, and having more than 10,000 square feet of space, the bold Day Dental professional building project, which began with a building permit value of $1.7 million, is the town’s most important commercial project since the Main Street Mall was built in 2018 at 50th Street and 49th Avenue.
“I am very excited about this building. It’s a landmark. I think it’s going to be here for 100 years,” said Tammy Thompson, the office manager at Day Dental who has been with the brothers since they began their dentistry practice a decade ago at the Co-op Mall.
“People are going to refer to it as, ‘that’s the old Day Dental building’, like we do with the old Kemp House and I think it’s a great addition to our community. I think it will do nothing but improve it.”
The Day brothers made their decision just over two years ago to leave their longstanding and satisfying workplace at the Co-op Mall for their new home just west of the Henday Mall.
“We really liked our time at the Co-op. I think in a way they kind of helped us spread our wings a bit by saying, ‘you need to find a new home,” said Isaac, noting Co-op at the time was processing its own corporate decisions for the mall, ones that did not align with their professional futures.
At that time, it was also just before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m not sure we would have even thought about putting in our new professional building right now in the middle of a pandemic. It would have been easy to say, ‘that dream of having your own building maybe we (should) push that back a little bit further,” said Isaac, adding he and his brother “probably” went through many of the pandemic-fuelled emotions many citizens went through two years ago, especially at the beginning.
“The big unknown, and just wondering, ‘are we ever going to open? Are we going to have to wait this out for five years? It was just the unknown. I think the best way to describe it is just fear of the unknown.
He added that another “wrinkle” of the pandemic is supply chain issues. “Like light fixtures stuck on a cargo ship off the coast, the flood in British Columbia so that you can’t get lumber.”
Isaac said the original plan was to have construction, which began well over a year ago, end in September but it continued until March.
“Having supply chain issues definitely made things interesting,” said Isaac. “One really nice thing has been that a lot of our patients have been following along with us in the journey. Six months ago, it was, ‘I saw the brick go up. That’s so exciting.’ Twelve months ago, it was, ‘hey, we saw the cinder block elevator shaft. Holy smokes what’s that going to be?”
But on March 11 the big day finally arrived. It was moving day. That process, a tricky and intricate operation involving plumbers and electricians connecting and reconnecting fixtures and equipment, took 10 days.
The staff of 21, including both Day brothers and new dentist Dr. Natasha Hansen, were finally able to reopen for business on March 21.
Day Dental is on the top floor while the bottom floor is reserved for a future denturist and pharmacy.
“And now I am super happy that they said, ‘it’s time to find a new home’ because now we couldn’t be more thrilled,” said Isaac, adding the feeling of home was important for him and Jacob as they have both long seized the community as the place where they want to spend the rest of their careers and raise their families.
They have also seized Innisfail’s renewed sense of energy and optimism for the future.
“I love the love-term stability of that red brick,” said Isaac. “It’s long-term.”
