Grant Park plans coming to life

Shindico Realty is inching closer to developing the remainder of Grant Park Pavilion, a mixed-use site set to fill in open land around the Walmart superstore on Taylor Avenue.

Plans for the land adjacent to Shindico’s Grant Park Festival development have been about two decades in the making, Shindico president and CEO Sandy Shindleman told the Free Press.

"It’s been a long time coming," he said of the infill development.

Shindico is "deep into the planning stage" of a six-storey, 124-suite luxury apartment building that will occupy the western corner of the site near the Sobeys grocery store, although the developer hasn’t yet applied for permits for that project. Shindleman said it’s too early to determine rental prices for future units.

"It has to be market-driven, but I expect it to be the upper end of market because of the amenities that we plan to put in, common rooms and party rooms and gyms and bocce ball, and all of these things."

Shindleman hopes to have a permit for the residential site and break ground by March at the latest, with possible occupancy in summer or fall of 2021.

The developer plans to put office and retail space in the Grant Park Pavilion development.

"The retail space is, we’re going to fill in the area between Walmart and the power easement, so we’re contemplating box tenants, gyms and these kinds of things, as well as more food," Shindleman said.

"We see there being a demand for more restaurant seats in River Heights, convenient restaurant seats."

To the east of the Walmart, Shindleman said, Shindico is waiting for the city to finish work on a drainage pipe before possibly building high-ceilinged "flex space" that could be suitable for a distribution hub or office space.

The project is set to benefit from the newly completed Waverley Street Underpass, which Shindleman expects should bring "a free flow of excellent customers that can get to these stores from Linden Woods, from Whyte Ridge, from down Waverley (Street), Waverley West and all of the great new suburbs that have come up."

For future residents, Shindleman described the area around the Grant Park Pavilion site as highly walkable with good transit access. A major new residential development, Fulton Grove, is planned for the nearby Parker lands, although that project has been mired in legal disputes.

Shindleman said the cost of holding land for the development has been high, but he described Shindico’s business plan as a long game.

"(Intuitively) we know that we’re inside, that there’s people who live south and west of this," he said.

"And it’s on people’s linkages to work, and to school... And so we just have to be patient, to curate the right tenants that are going to be successful."

 

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sol_israel