Tsawwassen Commons will soon start taking shape.
It may look like nothing but huge piles of sand right now but preloading is just about finished and steel structures will be erected in the next couple of months for the 550,000 square feet outdoor mall that will help change the face of retail in Delta.
Located off Highway 17A at the Tsawwassen First Nation, the new shopping centre is a project of mall developer Property Development Group. It's next door to the 1.2 million square foot Tsawwassen Mills shopping mall also under construction. The Commons will have about 100 outlets ranging in size from 800-square feet to tens of thousands of square feet with approximately 1,500 parking stalls.
PDG chairman Lawrence Rank and David Coon, director of leasing, gave the Delta Optimist a tour of the site Wednesday, noting it's an exciting time with many opportunities.
Overseeing the planning, development and redevelopment of over 60 shopping centers and regional malls in his more than 35 years in the real estate industry, Rank said the local area is currently under serviced when it comes to retail, forcing residents to commute to surrounding municipalities for shopping needs.
"We've got interest from independent retailers too from North Surrey, North Delta, for example, who are interested in coming down to this market. It's attracting new retailers that aren't represented," he said.
Coon said national retailers will be joined by franchise owners and single independent shops, as well as those offering a variety of services including a dentist.
He noted he's been busy giving company executives not only site tours but also driving them around the area and surrounding communities, providing them with a better sense of the mall's ideal location in the region. The tours sometimes include an aerial view.
"I actually have a group flying out from Boston on Monday for a site tour, a retailer looking at 15,000 square feet and very keen. Giving them a site tour but also the entire market, they leave here they have as much information as we can provide for them on the overall market. They look at it and say, 'Wow!'" he said.
About 70 per cent preleased, some of the confirmed tenants at Tsawwassen Commons include Rona, Canadian Tire, Dollarama, Petsmart, a Metro liquor store and a 150,000-square-foot "super" Walmart. The Marks Work Warehouse currently in Ladner will relocate to the mall, while a number of business franchise owners in South Delta have expressed interest in opening a second location at the Commons.
As far as the Walmart, it will have a 30,000-square-foot grocery area, but specialty food stores will also have a presence at the mall.
"Next week I have another group coming out on the food specialty side. What you're looking at is your produce store, your butcher shop, your seafood store, your baker," Coon said.
The Walmart is set to open in June 2016, a month after the 145,000 square foot Bass Pro Shop at the Tsawwassen Mills will open its doors, while the rest of the Tsawwassen Commons and Tsawwassen Mills mall outlets are set to open in October of next year.
Also taking part in Wednesday's tour, Mack Foster, who owns the 6,000 square foot Rona in downtown Tsawwassen as well as a much larger Rona building centre in Richmond, said he plans to open a 44,000 square foot Rona at the Commons. However, he still plans to keep the current Tsawwassen store, repurposing it to sell specialty outdoor living products and hot tubs.
In addition to the local markets of Ladner and Tsawwassen, the goal is to capture some of the millions of ferry passengers that will drive by the shopping centre every year, as well as some shoppers who are also visiting the adjacent Tsawwassen Mills.
Another attribute being pitched is the South Fraser Perimeter Road, the new four-lane highway running directly in front of Tsawwassen Commons. The new highway significantly reduces travel times for customers traveling from the surrounding areas, according to PDG.
A new road network also currently under construction in and around the mall will provide easy access as well as a direct link to a couple of thousand new homes and the logistics centre and industrial area at the TFN.
