There's a flurry of construction activity at the Tsawwassen Commons site as the 550,000-squarefoot outdoor mall continues to take shape on Tsawwassen First Nation land.
Last week, representatives of the Property Development Group, the company developing the site adjacent to Tsawwassen Mills, took the Optimist on a tour.
According to construction manager Nicole Asselin, phase one is well underway with anchor tenants Wal-Mart, Rona and Canadian Tire all being constructed.
She said construction is on schedule, although Tsawwassen Commons won't open in conjunction with the fashion mall next door in early October.
"Our plan is to have all the base buildings in phase one complete in October. Paving will also be done so then it will just be a question of who wants to open when," Asselin said.
Asselin said phase two construction, which will consist of more standalone buildings, would begin later this year once all the permitting and agreements are signed with the TFN.
One confirmed business in phase two is a Shell gas station, which is expected to open in December.
PetSmart, Marks Work Warehouse and Dollarama have been confirmed tenants for some time. Recent additions include HomeSense, Metro Liquor, Nando's Chicken, Wings Tap and Grill, AW, Wendy's and Starbucks, with the latter three all offering drive-thru locations.
"We're sitting right now at 70 per cent preleased," said Property Development Group partner David Coon. "I have a national tenant meeting me here today (July 20) and we do have an offer from them, but at this point I can't say who it is. What I can say, and I say this as a former resident of Tsawwassen, is everyone will just love this tenant as there is a real void in the current market."
Coon said he has another potential tenant seeking a 20,000-square-foot space visiting from Toronto at the end of the month.
"Our vision here is to have 95 per cent leased by the summer of 2017 and depending on the size of the tenants, we expect around 100 retailers in total when the full mall is complete," Coon said. "One of the major selling factors for us when these proposed tenants come out here is that they can see the vision, they can physically see the buildings and understand it." He said they expect Wal-Mart to open by the end of January, Canadian Tire should open by the end of this year with Rona to open next spring. PetSmart, Marks Work Warehouse and Dollarama are all scheduled to open by the end of the year.
"Some of the tenants that we are bringing in you will not find them in other areas, so you will have people coming from other places in the Lower Mainland to shop here. This will be a first-class shopping experience."
Property Development Group chairman and founding partner Lawrence Rank said once both Tsawwassen Commons and Tsawwassen Mills open, they will offer a diverse shopping experience for the people of Ladner and Tsawwassen.
"No one will have to leave the community anymore - everything will be here," said Rank. "Our strength is service-related and food-related, where the main focus of the Mills is fashion-related, so they will both very much complement each other. That was planned right from the beginning."
