Qualico Properties begins Sage Village East construction adjacent to StreetSide Developments’ Sage Village Condos

Winnipeg, MB – Qualico Properties broke ground in May on its 10,000-sq.-ft. Sage Village East commercial block, which will provide access to many amenities for residents of Sage Creek and the surrounding areas.

The project shares a lot with StreetSide Winnipeg’s Sage Village Condos and has involved extensive collaboration and a shared vision between the two business units, from site planning and making cost-effective decisions, to completing site work and utility servicing.

Work on site plan concepts for the project began about five years ago. Qualico Properties obtained permits in early 2023, with construction having started this spring. However, discussions about the site have been happening for even longer, according to Colm Sheridan, Director of Development, Qualico Properties Calgary.

“Initial high-level conversations about the right use for the site started about eight years ago,” he said. “Five years ago, we started developing site plans and got more seriously into fine-tuning how some of those ideas might work.”

_{Rendering of the Sage Village East commercial retail unit (subject to change)}

Since the project shares a lot with StreetSide Winnipeg’s Sage Village Condos site, the two business units collaborated from the get-go to ensure the entire site would work overall. Colm pointed out that the two properties will share a parking lot, and will be tied into the same storm water, sewer and power systems.

“The condo building has to complement the retail building and vice versa,” he said. “We need that block to work in a holistic sense, so we had to be cognizant of laying the site out in a way that works for both buildings to ensure we’re not doing something that’s totally different from what StreetSide is doing.”

Collaboration was also crucial on the construction side, since StreetSide Winnipeg started their building first and Qualico Properties wanted to ensure nothing would need to be redone if it didn’t work for the commercial building.

Navigating Cost Challenges

For the commercial project, Qualico Properties ran into construction cost issues initially and had to pivot to ensure they were making the best decision on when and how to proceed.

“We originally tendered the project last year and the pricing came in very high, so we put the job on hold and retendered this year,” Colm said. “After obtaining more favourable pricing, we decided to move ahead with the project.”

In this instance, and increasingly in the current market, Qualico Properties often has to find efficiencies in relation to cost, whether it be selecting different finishes that won’t compromise the design, or building during seasons likely to have more favourable weather conditions.

The cost challenges also saw Qualico Properties and StreetSide Winnipeg collaborating on building materials for both projects.

“When we were looking at the value engineering part of our building, we found that StreetSide had very similar problems with construction pricing on their building,” Colm said. “They had found some more cost-effective materials, like brick and aluminum composite panels, so it made sense for us to also switch to those materials from a cost and design consistency perspective.”

Seeing the Bigger Picture

When coming up with the site plan and overall design, Qualico Properties also ensured they were keeping in line with Qualico Communities’ overall look and feel of the Sage Creek community, such as streetscaping with benches, trees, planter boxes, and wider sidewalks to improve the pedestrian experience. These things were all taken into account to match what’s going on throughout the community.

“There’s a set of very specific design standards for what the streetscaping should look like along Burning Glass Road,” Colm said. “We didn’t want to do something that didn’t marry up with the overall vision for this community. We feel that this development further contributes to Qualico’s vision for the Sage Creek community and adds to this vibrant and growing area.”

Over the next few months, Qualico Properties will be installing foundations and erecting the structural steel for the building. Construction is expected to be completed by  the end of December this year, with tenants moving in shortly after.

So far, conditional deals with a regional bar and restaurant, a nail salon, and a local burger restaurant are pending or closed, and there is interest from numerous other retailers for the remaining units.

Refresh at River Park Village

In the River Park South area of the city, Qualico Properties is working on a façade refresh and construction of 3 additional buildings at one of its other properties – River Park Village – which was originally constructed in the 1990s. The project is scheduled for completion at the end of January 2025.

River Park Village includes over 54,000 sq. ft. of building space and is anchored by Sobeys, with new tenants Dairy Queen, a financial institution, and Dollarama leasing space in the building additions in the near future.

Colm said this type of project can be a difficult balancing act, but is something the team has done successfully several times in the past.

“The renovation of a retail building while keeping the businesses up and running is logistically intense from a construction point of view,” he said. “There are a number of issues to overcome, such as engaging stakeholders (tenants and nearby residents), making sure businesses can still function, providing security, keeping the weather out, and making sure the public knows businesses are still open during construction.”

Qualico Properties will have temporary signs added to the building and along the street to advertise tenants’ location and that they’re still open during the renovation. After the façade update is complete, Qualico Properties will also be providing tenants with new signage at no cost – something tenants would normally have to pay for themselves.

“There’s no point in freshening up the building if you don’t freshen up the signage too,” said Colm. “This will allow us to standardize the signage so there’s some consistency in the overall look of the site.”

With these two major commercial projects underway and set to be completed in early 2025, Qualico Properties is continuing to add value to two Winnipeg communities – providing residents with easy and improved access to retailers and services, while also offering tenants new and improved spaces to run their businesses.