New growth for big retail node

April 21, 2008
Winnipeg Free Press
Written by: Murray McNeill

Shindico planning Reenders Festival

Sandy Shindleman at site of Reenders Festival bylineBracket(" KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS"); ( Ken Gigliotti / Winnipeg Free Press )

One of the city's biggest retail shopping nodes is about to get even bigger.

Another major retail development is planned for the Regent Avenue and Lagimodiere Boulevard area -- which already boasts three such developments and more than 3.7 million square feet of retail space.

Winnipeg-based Shindico Realty Inc. plans to spend $30 million to $35 million to develop a 14.2-hectare shopping centre on an open field on Reenders Drive east of Lagimodiere and north of the Kildonan Place Shopping Centre.

To be called Reenders Festival, the development is expected to boast about 30 retailers when developed, Shindico president Sandy Shindleman said in an interview.

He said Shindico officials hope to begin construction this fall or in the spring of 2009, and to have it completed within nine to 12 months.

Reenders Festival will add 250,000 to 300,000 square feet of retail space to the area. Shindleman said that will give the node more than four million square feet of space, making it one of the largest in the city and putting it in the same league as the Polo Park node, which also has more than four million square feet.

Shindleman said Crossroads Station, on the south side of Regent and east of Lagimodiere, is the largest of the three existing developments in the area. Kildonan Place is second, and Kildonan Crossing, on the northwest corner of Regent and Lagimodiere, is the smallest. Reenders Festival will fall in between the latter two.

Shindleman said there is only one building on the Reenders Festival site at the moment -- a 65,000-square-foot StorageVille outlet that opened within the last six months at Reenders and Stapon Road. He said Shindico officials are holding off on developing the rest of the property until tenants are found for the remaining 40,000 square feet of unfilled space in the Crossroads Station power centre. (Shindico is the leasing agent for that development, as well).

"We'd like to see that get done first," he said, adding that should be accomplished by late this year or early next year.

Although the area already has a heavy concentration of retailers, Shindleman said he's confident the company will have no trouble finding tenants.

"It's going to be a welcome addition. There are still (retailers) that haven't been accommodated (in the area)."

Robert Warren, a retail instructor at the University of Manitoba and the I.H. Asper School of Business's executive director for entrepreneurship, agreed there's room for more stores.

"It's a great place for them to go because you have a couple of new housing developments going in there," Warren said. "What you've got is a lot of people living out there, so you want to make sure you've got stores and services close to them."

And unlike some of the other retail nodes, such as the area around St. Vital Shopping Centre, there's still room for more development near Regent and Lagimodiere, he noted.

"So to me, it makes sense (to build there). It's already got a natural draw, it's got the land to do a development, and it's got a growing population, as well."

Shindleman said the Reenders Festival site is probably the last significant chunk of undeveloped land in the area.

Warren said that's probably a good thing.

"With more than four million square feet (of retail space), that may be what's considered the current saturation point for that area," he said.

Warren said he's not surprised to see retail expansion continuing unabated in Winnipeg, even though it's been slowing for several years in some larger Canadian cities such as Toronto. That's because the current growth cycle started two or three years sooner in the larger centres such as Toronto and Vancouver.

"We're sort of at the tail end of the last round of retail development."

Warren said Manitoba's resource-based economy also continues to hum along, boding well for retail sales and development. Even the province's manufacturing sector has held up well, he said, thanks in part to its strong aerospace and bus-manufacturing sectors.

Know of any newsworthy or interesting trends or developments in the local office, retail, or industrial real estate sectors? Let real estate reporter Murray McNeill know at the e-mail address below, or at 697-7254.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

New residents lure retail expansion

HERE is a quick look at the plans for the proposed Reenders Festival retail development:

• Developer/manager: Shindico Realty Inc.
• Location: On Reenders Drive east of Lagimodiere Boulevard and north of Kildonan Place Shopping Centre.
• Size: 14.2 hectares
• Square feet of retail space: between 250,000 and 300,000.
• Number of retail outlets: approximately 30
• Cost to develop: between $30 million and $35 million. Tenants are also expected to spend an additional $10 million to develop their space to suit their needs.
• Projected start of construction: fall of '08 or spring of '09.
• Projected time to complete the work: nine to 12 months.
• Population within the area: 112,141 people within a 4.8-kilometer radius, 330,992 with an eight-kilometer radius.
• Average age of population: about 38.6 years
• Average annual household income: $47,381- $45,758

-- Source: Shindico Realty Inc.

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