Heard On The Street February 2019

HEARD ON THE STREET - February 2019

The former home of the Downtown Windsor Business Accelerator at 720 Ouellette Avenue has been sold, but there’s no public word yet on the future of the building. Brook Handysides of CBRE Ltd. explains that a Toronto investor has purchased the building along with the former home of Woody’s Outhouse and a number of adjacent parking lots and is now actively seeking tenants for all the properties. “We’ve been out to the market since mid-December with an active leasing campaign and we’ve had some significant interest so far,” notes Handysides. After a number of years of government and institutional investment in the city core, including projects led by the University of Windsor and St. Clair College, Handysides informs us there is now growing interest from the private sector. “There’s no question the city’s streetscaping project along the Ouellette corridor south of Wyandotte Street has made the area more attractive to investors and tenants,” he adds. There has also been some investment interest in the former HMCS Hunter building at 960 Ouellette, which CBRE has listed for sale at $1.25 million. As for the Accelerator, it is now located at 1501 Howard Avenue after starting up almost eight years ago at the corner of Ouellette Avenue and Tuscarora Street.

Tecumseh will have a new Food Basics grocery store expected to be open by early summer located at the corner of Manning Road and Amy Croft Drive. Pictured is a storefront photo of an existing Food Basics location in east Windsor.

Photo by Della Jones-Goulet.

A busy intersection on the border between Tecumseh and Lakeshore is about to get even busier with the addition of a Food Basics grocery store. The store — expected to be open by early summer — will be located at the corner of Manning Road and Amy Croft Drive, just yards away from a popular Sobeys store. Jonathan Lot, Vice-President of Operations for Petretta Construction, which is developing the property, says the five-acre site will also include a 7,000 sq. ft. development adjacent to the grocery store as well as a separate pad at the front of the development. “The front pad can accommodate one tenant or be sub-divided for as many as four,” says Lot. There will be one entrance from the plaza at Amy Croft and Manning and another further north off Manning. “It’s a perfect location for any commercial or retail business that requires a drive-through, such as a restaurant or a financial institution,” adds Lot.

After years of rumours, speculation and aborted plans, the city’s far-eastern suburbs will finally be getting a long-awaited hotel. Petretta Construction has acquired a twoacre parcel of land in separate transactions involving Valente Home Development and R.O.C.K. Developments, with plans to build and operate a Holiday Inn Express on property currently occupied by Tecumseh Golf. Construction of the hotel, which has long been thought of as a welcome complement to other developments in the area, such as the WFCU Centre, Atlas Tube Centre and growing local businesses, is expected to begin by June. “We believe it’s a home run,” says Jonathan Lot, Vice President of Operations for Petretta. “We had looked at other parcels along Banwell Road where it might have been cheaper to acquire and build, but we felt the Manning Road corridor better suited our needs and those of Holiday Inn.” Acquisition of the property, which will be accessed off Amy Croft Drive, was expected to close January 30.

Blake Lucas, Owner of Tecumseh Golf, informs Biz X the new development will force his business to move. “We’ve identified a potential new site that would allow us to continue with both the driving range and our retail shop,” Lucas says, mentioning, “(but) we’re waiting on some zoning issues to be resolved.” In a worst case scenario, Lucas said he would continue operating the retail store as a separate entity, on a short-term basis, if the driving range component falls through, until he finds a location for both. “We’ve been rumoured to be out of here since 2008 so I guess this time was coming,” he adds. Lucas declined to divulge details of the new location, but said it is close to where Tecumseh Golf now operates at 1654 Manning Road. There is no timetable for the relocation.