Following a busy few months of construction, more businesses are starting to come on line at Tsawwassen Commons.
The shopping centre on Tsawwassen First Nation land adjacent to Tsawwassen Mills saw the A&W open its 24-hour-drive-thru location along Canoe Pass Way last week while the Shell gas station, located along Salish Sea Drive, opened for business just before Christmas.
The A&W is now the third eatery to open at the mall, joining Wendy’s, which opened in November, and Nando’s, which has been open since late 2016.
“Wendy’s has been very steady since they opened up,” said Novy Cheema of Gracorp Capital Advisors Ltd. “We had a construction manager out there the day that they opened and there was a line out the door.”
More eateries and service businesses will soon be open at the 550,000-square-foot outdoor mall.
Located next to the Shell station will be an Encorp Return-it recycling centre and Kal Tire.
Cheema said Kal Tire has been on the radar for quite a while, but a zoning change was needed to allow construction to start.
“That zoning was approved a couple of weeks ago, so construction will start soon,” he told the Optimist.
Arby’s, which will also be located along Canoe Pass Way, will open within the next few months, as will a number of other restaurants, including Manna Grill, Donair Affair, Simply Pho, Booster Juice, Subway and Uncle Fatih’s Pizza.
Wings Restaurant and Bar and Menchie’s should also be open later this year, he said.
“As the buildings are all in place, many of these eateries have been turned over to the tenants, so they should quickly be coming on line,” said Cheema. “The others will be turned over really soon to the tenants.”
Cheema said they are aiming to have Metro Liquor to start tenant improvements in the next couple of months.
A Tim Horton’s with a drive-thru and a yet to be named Japanese restaurant should be open by late 2018, he said.
“All the buildings you see going up all have substantial leasing in them, so there won’t be too much empty space,” he said. “All the tenants you see there are shops and services that are used pretty regularly, so they are your fast food restaurants, sit down eateries and services. We are hoping that will drive more traffic to the area simply because people frequent those types of places if not daily, then every couple of days.”
Anchored by Walmart, Canadian Tire, Rona and others, the 100-store mall was expected to open in October 2016 in conjunction with the adjacent 200-store fashion mall, but a slower than anticipated retail market stalled some of the construction.
Last June, activity on the site increased substantially, with construction at a steady pace ever since.
“Our big box retailers certainly wanted to see more traffic and certainly more of a finish,” Cheema added. “When we were out there in June it looked really much like a construction site, but as we move further in 2018, more buildings will be completed and the construction will move off, which will allow for more of an appealing look and feel to the overall complex.”
