Leasing activity has been incredibly active in the past year or so at the CrossIron Mills shopping centre just north of Calgary’s city limits, in Balzac.
The 1.2 million-square-foot mall, owned by Ivanhoé Cambridge and managed by JLL Canada, has very little available space currently and leasing demand continues to be quite strong.
James Moller, Vice President, Regional Manager, Alberta and Manitoba, for JLL, said in the past year or so the following retailers have taken up space at the shopping centre – Harry Rosen Outlet, Bailey Nelson, Lovisa (a jewelry brand), New Balance, Clarks Shoes, and Specsavers.
“Now we’re into 2023 and we’ve got strong interest in leasing space. Retailers after a couple of years of putting the brakes on opening stores, are looking to open and expand their businesses,” said Moller. “So it’s been really busy the last six or eight weeks, negotiating leases and trying to figure out how do we get some of these retailers open in 2023.
“Another retailer is taking possession of their space April 1. It’s called Uncle Tetsu. It’s a Japanese bakery and they’re going to open this summer.
“There’s about half a dozen or more deals in the pipeline that we’re just trying to finalize negotiations so we can get them open before the end of the year as well. It’s been very resilient the last 12 months.”
With the demise of Bed, Bath & Beyond, CrossIron Mills will be losing one of its anchor tenants but interest is high for that space already.
“They’re in their winding down phase. I would imagine we’ll get the store back in the next 30 to 60 days. We have very little vacancy. We have no vacancy in the anchor positions. This is a really good size unit (32,000 square feet), facing Highway 2 (Queen Elizabeth Highway) on the front side of the building. We have very strong interest in leasing the space. I have no trouble thinking that we will have a replacement announced probably before they actually even leave,” said Moller.
CrossIron Mills has about 220 stores and there is only one vacancy in the building.
“There’s a few leases that are expiring and a couple of the units we have what we call temporary tenants and they will make way for these new tenants coming in this year,” explained Moller.
Recently, in an interview with Retail Insider, Julie Bourgon, Head of Retail, Canada, with Ivanhoé Cambridge, said the company is exploring ways to densify some of its properties across Canada, joining a growing trend in the retail industry. She said property owners look at shopping centre assets differently today than they did a few years ago.
“On CrossIron specifically there is excess vacant land that Ivanhoe owns and it has been a topic of conversation and strategic planning with Ivanhoe about how best to maximize value,” said Moller. “Those conversations are going on and Julie’s comments are right in line with what we’ve been looking at and talking about. So nothing to announce but it is a strong possibility.”
