Regional shopping centre expected to bring grocery store, movie theatre to Seton area

CALGARY - New retail development planned for the Seton area in southeast Calgary is aimed at meeting huge demand from shoppers in the area.

Warren Paulsen, vice-president of commercial for Brookfield Residential, told the Herald the next phase of retail development for Seton will include about 200,000 square feet of space on more than eight hectares of land in a regional shopping format.

The area requires these services. Its been part of our plan going back to 2000 when we started the land-use and outline plan process with the city, said Paulsen. Weve been in the planning stages of this thing for a long time and we waited for the hospital (South Health Campus) to really get nearer completion. We didnt want to be building out there on our own. And we needed rooftops to support our initial tranche of retail.

Weve always characterized Seton as being the urban core for a city of 100,000 people. When you put it in the context of Alberta cities, its bigger than Red Deer.

He said the next phase of retail development is currently in the pre-leasing stage as the developer looks for regional tenants that will draw customers from not just the immediate area.

Paulsen said Brookfield hopes to break ground on the project in May 2015 and it would take about two years for completion.

The open format regional shopping centre will have about 20 stores with retail space ranging from 1,500 square feet to 32,000 square feet.

Paulsen said the estimated population in the surrounding communities of Cranston, Auburn Bay and Mahogany is about 30,000 people today. The surrounding area south of Highway 22x (Marquis de Lorne Trail) will be home to approximately 120,000 people on build out which is estimated to be between the years 2030-2035.

Everything south of (Highway) 22 were underserviced effectively. Weve been studying the retail market down there for many years. That area could handle more retail. Theres more than enough demand, said Paulsen.

Setons first phase of retail development, the Gateway district, is completed with about 130,000 square feet that includes the Save-On-Foods grocery store, Shoppers Drug Mart, BMO and TD Bank as well as other stores and restaurants.

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Regional shopping centre expected to bring grocery store, movie theatre to Seton area