Anchor stores near for Preston Crossing
Developer anticipates full house by next fall at Phase 5 of retail centre
There is a “99 per cent” chance that Bed Bath & Beyond will anchor the fifth phase of the Preston Crossing shopping centre when it opens next year, says the project’s Calgary-based developer.
“I’d say it’s not confirmed, but it is our hope to get them and GoodLife (Fitness) as the two anchors,” said Doug Porozni, president of Ronmor Developers Inc., which was contracted to build the 8.8-acre development in late 2014.
The developer has signed an agreement with and started work on a building for GoodLife — one of the country’s largest gym chains — and is “pretty confident” it can conclude a deal with Bed Bath & Beyond, he said.
A Saskatoon store would be the home outfitter’s second location in the province.
The company opened its first Saskatchewan store in Regina’s south end two years ago.
Bed Bath & Beyond is “always looking for new locations,” but any potential openings will not be discussed before leasing arrangements are complete, a Bed Bath & Beyond spokeswoman said in an email.
GoodLife, which operates four big box-style gyms in the province, is expanding its Centre Mall location and will open a fifth gym at Preston Crossing, the company’s director of operations confirmed in an email.
“The club is still in the design phase so we don’t have specific information to share at this time but we look forward to sending our exciting announcements in the coming months,” Ariane McFadyen said in the email.
Ronmor has signed deals or is negotiating with other prospective tenants for the project’s roughly 110,000 square feet of retail space, and is also looking for a restaurant tenant, Porozni said.
“We’re building over the winter and we’re turning those spaces over starting in January, right through until April, May, so it’s going to be sort of a staged occupancy,” he said, adding the development should be full by fall 2017.
Porozni said Preston Crossing’s fifth phase takes a different approach than the first four, with path links and other design elements intended to make the site more pedestrian-friendly.
Owned by the University of Saskatchewan, Preston Crossing is leased to developers long-term. The shopping centre, which covers about 58 acres and includes almost 700,000 square feet of retail space, opened in 2001.
Preston Crossing is not the only major shopping complex under development in the city.
Arbutus Properties Ltd.’s Meadows Market project in Rosewood will be anchored by the city’s second Costco location, which was confirmed in early 2015 after more than a year of rampant speculation.
The wholesaler said on its website its second Saskatoon location is scheduled to open in November. Its first store in the city opened on Marquis Drive in 1991.
A spokesman for the Vancouverbased Arbutus said Monday that while the developer is negotiating with other tenants for the roughly 160,000 square feet of retail space in the project’s first phase, it could not comment on specific deals.
Arbutus CEO Jeff Drexel told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix last year that the Meadows Market will be “a major, major shopping centre” in the city.