Lindsay development president wants commercial tenant open in 2022
Property, long rumoured to be the future home of a Walmart, will also include 200 homes
The Craft development, also known as the “Walmart” development on the corner of Highway 35 and Colborne Street West in Lindsay, could see more than 200 homes move-in ready by next fall.
Carmine Nigro, president of Craft Development Corp., says the development is moving ahead with whatever it can legally during COVID-19 emergency measures.
That means opening tenders privately for earthworks and servicing for some 220 residential and the commercial lots.
“We’re looking forward to it. We’ve put a lot of money into the development and we’d like to push forward,” Nigro said, noting the first four of six phases of tenders opened for bidding June 5. Local companies were invited to bid.
The tender process will take about three weeks, Nigro said. The work will happen over the next year.
Signs have gone up advertising the homes, which will be built by Kingsmen Group Inc., and there have already been more inquiries than there are homes.
Nigro wants to see houses being built by the spring and people moving in by the fall of 2021. He says the large commercial tenant in talks with Craft has strict criteria for moving into a town, such as a population size of 30,000. The tenant has long been rumoured to be a Walmart.
“They’re very anxious that we proceed with our residential development as soon as possible,” he said. “They stick to that criteria like a Bible.”
Kawartha Lakes approved the subdivision official plan and zoning for 563 units last December. That decision was appealed by a neighbouring developer over concerns of a costsharing agreement for the redevelopment of Highway 35.
Richard Holy, manager of planning for the City of Kawartha Lakes, said the 100-unit city planning policy, another concern of the appellant, remains in place.
That appeal hearing happened in January, but a decision has yet to be passed down by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, said Ian Walker, Kawartha Lakes planning officer for large developments, development services.
Walker said the city has been negotiating the site plan agreement with Craft for the first phase of the commercial component and will hopefully have an agreement ready to be signed early this summer.
Nigro said the 100,000square-foot commercial development would open in 2022.