Commercial Update in Prairie / South Pointe

I’ve had multiple inquiries on why is commercial development so slow in coming to Prairie / South Pointe commercial areas, and also on why one of the four sites was re-zoned to residential. I hope this give you a better understanding of the bigger picture.

LAND  DEVELOPMENT  IN  GENERAL:

• What I’ve observed over the years, and have also been told is – when developers ‘develop’ a large community, like South Pointe and Prairie Pointe, often they aim to have as much land zoned ‘commercial’ as possible – as much as the city allows – as there are parameters.
• WHY? From what I’ve observed (may not be factual, but from what I’ve observed)  there are two reasons:
  1. Market conditions / global / national economic conditions / people’s  needs  / etc –  can change over the 25 year period it takes for most developments to ‘build out’.  So by zoning commercial – it leaves options open to adjust to market conditions.
  2. There is less public opposition to change land from commercial TO residential – vs changing residential land TO commercial.  People who buy into a community, are more in opposition if lands change from residential TO commercial – as that means they could be living beside a gas station, or a Walmart – or something more ‘intense’ than residential.  I’ve seen in other parts of the city – it is difficult to change a residential area to a commercial area as people are worried about noise / service trucks, etc.

RE-ZONED South West Corner (from commercial to residential) :

• Back in 2023  – Ladco make application to the city to re-zone and sub divide the commercial to residential. The city planners agreed in that it fit with city policy. see pages 21 – 27 in the Subdivision and Rezoning plan approval where the city planners SUPPORT this application.
• Signs were publicly posted, notifications were put in the paper, and residents or anyone could speak up at the public hearing.
• I suspect the developer clearly saw where retail was going – nowhere – (ie: post covid – the entire retail world has changed and more online, etc) and because of the change in the retail landscape, I suspect the need for commercially zoned land diminished.
• Also – at the same timeframe, due to intense immigration / population increases – the developer – every developer –  recognized that housing was in huge demand.
• So I suspect the combination of changing market conditions (retail out / housing in) was the catalyst for the developer to make the request to change the zoning.
• I do have to state – housing is important and Winnipeg does not have enough housing for the anticipated growth that the Feds and Province are projecting in the years to come – via immigration.
• Also – during the hearing – both the city planners and developer – stated there would be LESS traffic with residential than commercial – which I found interesting. There were studies also to back this fact up. 

COMMERICAL  DEVELOPMENT  in  SOUTH  / PRAIRIE POINTE:

• The city is not responsible for ‘landing commercial businesses’ – that is the responsibility of the developer.
• In this case – the developer is a very seasoned/experienced commercial developer – they own the two malls at end of Pembina – Richmond West Plaza and Fort Richmond Plaza – which are in my opinion, well looked after and have a good variety of relevant businesses for the community – and they also own malls in St James area –  point being – they know what they are doing when putting a mall together.
• I know the developer was working very hard to land two large anchor tenants for the commercial land in South / Prairie Pointe – the tenants would go on the north west and south east quadrants. My understanding of retail development is – if you can land big anchor tenants – the smaller retail follows immediately – and the developer can be ‘selective’ as to what retail they want to enhance the anchors.
• The challenge for the developer has been – pre-pandemic, large anchors weren’t landed as one went bankrupt in Canada. Then with the pandemic – everything  slowed everything down in development / retail and commercial worlds.
• Post pandemic – construction costs skyrocketed – so that too slowed down any desire for large commercial types to build.
• Now – from my understanding, the developer has anchors and are looking at finalizing deals – these deals as you can well imagine are very complex and involved because – if a grocery store or lumber / or big box or whatever lands, it is for 30+ years – so – point being – complex agreements that take time.
• I know the developer wants to get going on the sites – I know because I meet with them every 3 months to get updates  – and to essentially complain to them that residents are fed up and want commercial!

Please feel free to contact the developer directly for more information – Ladco Company