‘Calculated risk’: Smartrend project rolls on despite uncertain climate

Sod was turned at a new manufacturing plant Monday in Winnipeg, bucking a widespread trend of “wait and see” among the private sector.

“We feel this is a calculated risk,” said Scott Bearss, a partner with Weathervane Investments. “So we’ve got our foot on the gas.”

Per the current timeline, a 140,000-square-foot facility for Smartrend Manufacturing Group will be finished by October 2026. Smartrend has grown through its creation of illuminated school bus signs and stop arms.

Developers acquired the south Winnipeg site last year. In general — amid a trade war with the United States — builders and buyers have taken a “wait and see” approach to real estate, Bearss relayed.

“We see projects getting stalled or delayed,” said Bearss, who works for a Vancouver-based firm.

Weathervane Investments is a business partner with Smartrend and will co-own the 1455 Clarence Ave. building.

Manitoba hasn’t avoided an investment chill: Economic Development Winnipeg confirmed last month local companies and foreign investors had pulled back spending. Nationally, 30 per cent of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters members had already paused investments by January, a CME survey found.

“We believe making this investment now is still going to be a great decision three to five years from now,” Kevin Smith, president of Smartrend, said after the ceremonial sod-turning event.

Nearly all sales from the company’s First Light Safety Products division, which manufactures school bus equipment, come from the United States. Five states have mandated the use of Smartrend’s signage on all school buses.

Those goods aren’t currently affected by tariffs because they fall under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. Smartrend is looking at other markets — namely India and Vietnam — to ship items it creates that are being hit by American levies.

“Our products make school buses safer,” Smith said. “That’s not something that goes out of style.”

Still, he’s expecting tariffs and resulting higher costs to change the scope of Smartrend’s new facility.

Pre-Con Builders, the firm erecting the structure, will direct its subcontractors to seek Canadian supplies. However, procurement for the build has already started.

“We have to mitigate a lot of things,” said Daniel Simon, a project manager with Pre-Con. “You’ve just got to get more creative.”

He’s eyeing steel prices. Steel will come from Butler Manufacturing, a Missouri-based company Pre-Con has worked with for decades. The goods will arrive in September or October; Simon hopes tariffs will have been dropped by then.

A 25 per cent jump in the cost of steel will be “something we have to keep monitoring as we go,” Simon added.

For now, the facility is slated to cost $30 million. It sits upon 7.5 acres of land, beside Motor Coach Industries. (Smartrend creates more than 100 different parts for MCI’s parent company, NFI Group.)

A research and development space, assembly line and plastic processing area are among the non-negotiables for the plant, regardless of tariff impacts, Smith said.

Most of the building will be one-storey; offices will consume two floors. Smith envisions hiring another 100 to 200 people over the next five years. Jobs will come as adoption of Smartrend’s school bus products increases, he said.

“We’re not out there actively campaigning for other projects,” Bearss said. “(But) this is one that we don’t have a lot of heartburn over.”

The Winnipeg company has 20 patents on LED and retroreflective signs, Smith told the Free Press in February.

Smartrend currently has 120 staff. It leases three Winnipeg locations over a collective 55,000 sq. ft., but it plans to move all operations to the Clarence Avenue site upon completion.

Mayor Scott Gillingham attended the sod turning Monday.

“I’m sincerely grateful, probably right now more than ever (and) with everything going on,” Gillingham told developers. “We do appreciate … confidence in Winnipeg.”

Smartrend will consume 125,000 sq. ft. of the new space; another 15,000 sq. ft. will be available to rent.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com