The City of Winnipeg has hit a redevelopment hole-in-one.

Looking to get out of the golf course business, the city has signed an agreement with Quebec-based Nordik Spa-Nature to open up its Finnish spa concept at the Crescent Drive Golf Course in south Winnipeg.

The $7 million year-round facility will feature dry saunas, cold waterfalls and temperate pools, steam baths, outdoor hot baths, outdoor fireplaces and relaxation areas.

Scheduled to open in late 2012, the spa won't target the high-end client that tends to frequent such locations. Instead, with a $45-per-day fee, its goal is to make the spa experience available to just about everyone, said Martin Paquette, Nordik's CEO.

Golfers need not worry that the nine-hole course will shut down. Instead, Nordik will build a new clubhouse for them - the old one has already been demolished - and will service hungry golfers with the same kitchen that takes care of spa-goers.

Earlier this fall, the city put out an expression of interest to see if anybody was interested in buying seven of its golf courses for commercial or residential development or to assume their long-term lease. That move came after auditors discovered the city-owned courses were deep in debt.

from Western Investor December 2011

Pure Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust has bought in big to the Winnipeg industrial sector, said to be the tightest such market in the country.

In July, the Vancouver-based REIT closed the $15.1 million purchase of 1725 Inkster Boulevard, Winnipeg, a 265,843-square-foot industrial complex on 12.7 acres. The property is 100 per cent leased on long-term leases to quality tenants, including the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.  

According to a survey by CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), Winnipeg's industrial vacancy rate is now 3.7 per cent, down from 4.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2010. "Winnipeg has the tightest industrial market in the country," said Derrick Charter, head of CBRE's Winnipeg office. Charter notes that 140,000 square feet of new industrial property came to the market in the second quarter. 

 Earlier this year, Avison Young forecast that high demand would put upward pressure on Winnipeg's industrial land prices and lease rates. Land prices have increased about 10 per cent per year in each of the last four years, 

The villlage of Wescadia has only 225 residents but, like the neighbouring town of Virden, it finds itself at the centre of an unprecedented oil boom in southwestern Manitoba.

Industry officials predict exploration in the giant Bakken oil fields will top $1 billion this year, up from $800 million in 2010. A record 600 oil wells are expected to be drilled in 2011, a third of them by Winnipeg-based Tundra Oil & Gas. Historically, between 50 and 100 wells are drilled annually in all of Manitoba. Dave Chomiak, Manitoba Minister of Innovation, Energy and Mines, said that if you were driving through the area and didn't know better, you'd think you were in the heart of the Alberta. "We've got a mini-boom going on," he said.

It is no secret that rising oil prices are driving the activity because they make the latest in drilling technology economical in a way it wasn't two years ago. The most significant advancement is horizontal drilling, where water, sand or carbon dioxide is injected into a reservoir, pushing the oil to the vertical wells. 

"It's a renassiance," said Dan MacLean, president and CEO of Tundra. Each well requires between $1.2 million and $1.5 million of investment. Over the last five years, the oil industry has spent $2.5 billion in Manitoba and drilled more than 2,000 wells.

The situation, however, is putting a strain on Wescada and Virdin. An influx of workers has pushed demand for housing and motel rooms through the roof. It has already spurred two hotel developments, and some entrepreneurs have even transformed empty buildings into bed and breakfasts. Virden, with a population of 3,000, is taking the brunt of the boom. 

V

If you need to keep up-to-date on what's happening in towns and regions in Western Canada you need the Western Investor

Preparation and information is critical when you're ready to buy —or sell— in one of Western Canada's regions.

Let us do the leg work for you! Every month the news that affects the investor's view of the region is laid out, in more detail than our free weekly tidbits.

  Of course, you have to be a subscriber. Subscribe here, or log in at right.

 S A M P L E    N E W S    A R T I C L E

New resort rises on Lake Winnipeg

Neil Hebert, president of Empire Development, has completed the first of what he hopes is several stages in the rebirth of 160 acres on the east side of Lake Winnipeg in the Rural Municipality of Alexander.

The 18-hole Beaches Golf Course, located about 75 minutes north of Winnipeg, has been converted into a nine-hole facility in an effort to attract the duffer crowd and differentiate it from nearby Grand Pines Golf Course, which caters to serious golfers.