{"id":915744,"date":"2026-09-30T20:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/915744\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T20:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:50:12","slug":"people-dont-feel-safe-there-edmonton-city-centre-malls-new-owner-considers-adding-metal-detectors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/915744\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;People don&#8217;t feel safe there&#8217;: Edmonton City Centre Mall\u2019s new owner considers adding metal detectors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The new owners of City Centre Mall in the heart of downtown Edmonton are considering adding security screening with metal detectors, just like at the airport.<\/p>\n<p>Westrich Pacific co-CEO Richie Lam, speaking to the International Chinatown Conference on Monday, said he was considering adding security guards, a metal detector and a bag scanner at every entrance.<\/p>\n<p>Lam added anyone looking like they do not belong at the mall will not be allowed in.<\/p>\n<p>Owners hope adding more attractions, including more apartments and more security to the downtown mall, will bring more people to the core.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Lam revealed plans for four apartment buildings, including on top of the former Hudson\u2019s Bay store, totalling 1,500 new homes. He hopes construction on the first tower can begin next year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe main thing is something has to change right now,\u201d Lam said. \u201cLike, the mall is in bankruptcy because no one has shopped there. People don\u2019t feel safe there, right? That\u2019s why it\u2019s in bankruptcy right now. So we have to do something to change it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAgain, by putting residents there, by increasing and making people feel safe that they wanna go, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/edmonton.citynews.ca\/2026\/08\/11\/developer-city-centre-mall\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Edmonton developer acquires City Centre Mall, wants to build 1,500 housing units and spa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The mall already spends $6 million on security. Lam says any changes need to be done right, saying a \u201cbalance\u201d needs to be found in order for customers not to be profiled and turned away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s one thing we do not want to enter in that realm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Lam is also hoping for a T&amp;T grocery store with a mini Chinatown inside Edmonton\u2019s downtown mall.<\/p>\n<p>That possible connection to Chinatown, and the prospect of more residents, was welcomed by one community leader.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am really welcoming the news that City Centre is gonna be having a rebirth and having all the new types of shopping and food experience in there,\u201d said Sandy Pon, the chair of the Chinatown Transformation Collaborative Society of Edmonton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce you have the residents, more residents in the area, it\u2019s just more vibrancy, and this is what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Westrich Pacific is planning to launch a website soon to get public feedback on what they\u2019d like to see in the mall. More details on the plans are expected by December.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013With files from Lauren Boothby<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/City-Centre-Mall--e1790793025713.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" ratio=\"16x9\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tEdmonton&#8217;s City Centre Mall on Sept. 29, 2026. (CityNews) <\/p>\n<p>\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n<p>Add CityNews Edmonton as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=edmonton.citynews.ca\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"add-trusted-source-badge\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790801412_719_google-trusted-badge.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"198\" height=\"63\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new owners of City Centre Mall in the heart of downtown Edmonton are considering adding security screening&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":915745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-915744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/915745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}