A vacant property in the Town of Altona is known as a bit of an 'eyesore'.

Altona Mayor Melvin Klassen was asked about the old McDonald's building, which hasn't been in operation for 3 years now.

"It is a concern because that's an entrance of town," said Klassen.

A reason selling the building may be difficult, is because McDonald's has put criteria on who can and can't purchase the site.

"We could possibly set a by-law saying that things have to move more quickly. We haven't done that as yet," said Klassen. "McDonald's is certainly putting criteria on as to who can buy, what they expect of it. They don't want any competition there."

Klassen added the empty building isn't what he'd like to see in town.

"That has become a bit of an eye-sore, we don't like it, and it's also somewhat embarrassing, the fact that we can't move that," he said.

Kristen Hunter, Public Relations Supervisor with Macdonald's Canada, said McDonald's Canada is still actively looking for a buyer for this location, but didn't comment further.

On a more positive note, Klassen is happy with the amount of business activity in town.

Klassen noted Jake Rempel, owner of Altona's mall, has done a good job of filling up spaces in the mall and ensuring activity. "I think right now in southern Manitoba, our mall is certainly one of the better ones. When you walk in it feels good, there's excitement there and there's activity."

A commercial building in town was also recently purchased, four years after being on the market.

"We bought the hydro building. The hydro building was leased out almost immediately," Klassen said. SK2 Custom Homes will now rent the building from the town.

The Altona industrial park is thriving as well and is actually running out of space. "That hasn't been resolved yet," said Klassen. "We know that we've got to get more space for industry."

Klassen added the fringe area secondary plan will be helpful in solving this problem. Altona's secondary plan designates fringe areas for industrial and agri-industrial space, highway commercial activity, and residential development.