‘Everything is on track and going quite well’: Naawi-Oodena takes shape

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This article was published 01/02/2025 (249 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been more than a year since the sod-turning for the first building on what will be a billion-dollar, 160-acre, mixed-use development of the former Kapyong barracks property.

That building — although just a humble gas bar in south Winnipeg — is the first visible sign of the development named Naawi-Oodena, but there’s been plenty going on behind the scenes.

This week, there will some physical activity on the west side of Kenaston Boulevard and the rest of the Grant Avenue-area site as geotechnical investigations are underway to confirm soil composition as a prelude to the civil design for the servicing of the entire site.

The co-developers of the property — Treaty One Development Corp. and federal Crown corporation Canada Lands Co. — are working together on the servicing work.

Separately, Treaty One is responsible for the development of 68 per cent of the land — including much of it fronting onto Kenaston Boulevard — and Canada Lands has the remaining 32 per cent, including much of the space adjacent to the existing residential neighbourhood bordering the western edge.

That means Treaty One’s portion will be primarily commercial and institutional development; CLC’s will be primarily residential development.

“Timelines are moving a bit here and there but there’s no significant delays on anything. Everything is on track and going quite well,” said Kathleen BlueSky, CEO of Treaty One Development Corp.

The gas bar should be open in the spring and additional commercial development on the 7.7-acre parcel of land on the northeast corner at Taylor Avenue and Kenaston should start next year, she added.

In the meantime, Treaty One is getting ready to start development of a 260-unit residential development on the west side of Kenaston, north of Taylor.

In October, CLC submitted a rezoning application for 17.5 acres on the west side of Kenaston and south of Taylor.

Multiple types of residential development are planned for it, including 25-30 detached residential lots up against the existing Tuxedo neighbourhood and more than nine acres of multi-family residential land (which would allow for a mix of townhouses, stacked townhouses and multi-storey residential buildings).

Dave Marsh, CLC’s Winnipeg-based director of real estate, said officials are anticipating municipal approval this summer or fall, allowing them to start site servicing and infrastructure construction in 2026.

“There has been a lot of activity behind the scenes,” said Marsh. “Our relationship with Treaty One and the City of Winnipeg has been very strong and the city has been very responsive in the development review process. We’re very pleased with how things are going.”

BlueSky agreed, saying the two organizations are collaborating in infrastructure engineering designs and creating guidelines both parties would adopt. “We want to create a seamless neighbourhood development.”

There’s been plenty of interest from potential tenants for the first commercial development, BlueSky said, but would not supply any names.

When it comes to accessing capital for the $72-million, 260-unit residential development, she said there are plenty of options.

“This is an optimal time to do residential development,” she said “There are multiple pots of financing opportunities. That’s why we jumped on this project now.”

Unlike Treaty One, CLC’s role is as master plan developer. It will do the rezoning, put in the sewer and water and infrastructure, then sell individual parcels to individual developers. (Marsh said there has been strong interest shown thus far.)

Although it’s critical to both organizations, BlueSky and Marsh said the scheduling of the city’s $586-million undertaking to add traffic lanes, active transportation pathways and sewage upgrades to Kenaston Boulevard will not impact the pace of development at Naawi-Oodena.

“The master plan for Treaty One and our development activity was all planned for the potential widening of Kenaston, but we can move forward without that occurring. The master plan did anticipate the need for additional land for the Kenaston widening,” Marsh said.

Treaty One and its seven First Nations members are exploring ways they can support the city and advance the road expansion project, BlueSky said.

“It is definitely a high priority for us.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca