Kevin Olson is confident that Brandon can support multiple retail hubs.
The vice-president of Landstar Development Corp. is currently looking for three or four anchor tenants for WestVic Common, a 12-acre site with 117,000 square feet of existing retail space in the west end of the city.
There is currently 80,000 square feet of unoccupied space and a quartet of pad sites, each of which could accommodate a retailer needing up to 6,000 square feet or something smaller, such as a fast-food drive-thru at 3,500 square feet.
Olson believes the unoccupied space would have been filled by now if it weren’t for Target closing and the Sobeys and Safeway grocery chains joining forces last year, which opened up a total of 150,000 square feet of space at the Brandon Shoppers Mall.
He said a number of prospective tenants for WestVic focused their attention on Shoppers Mall, preferring the traffic flow of 18th Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares.
“I’m understanding of the market conditions and happy that I see things changing and going in the right direction,” he said, declining to comment on whether any tenant announcements are forthcoming.
Olson said WestVic’s retailers are doing well and the future will be even better once some new tenants are found.
“We’ve got great residential demographics surrounding the site with residential infill planned for the southwest,” he said.
Landstar acquired WestVic, its first project in Brandon, in the spring of 2014. It has developed more than $100 million worth of real estate over the last 30 years in Winnipeg.
