“Not only are people building in our current subdivisions, but we’re getting contractors inquiring about starting new subdivisions,” he said, adding that Gimli offers “the best of both worlds,” including most of the amentities urbanites need: Chrysler, Ford and GM dealerships, four large grocery stores, three hotels and a wide variety of shops.
“People can move out here and still have all the conveniences [of a big city],” said Greenberg. “If they want to go to a Winnipeg Blue Bombers or a Winnipeg Jets game, they’re only an hour away.”
Like other communities in the south basin of Lake Winnipeg, Gimli’s real estate market came to a halt after the October 2010 “weather bomb” saw strong winds and giant waves cause millions of dollars of damage and copious amounts of shoreline erosion.
Cottage prices
Houses and cottages are just starting to change hands again, says Judy Arnason, president and owner of Estates West Realty.
“Prices in the last year haven’t changed because the buyers weren’t really there,” she said. “Very few places sold after the weather bomb. Everybody was afraid of being flooded, but now the fears have dissipated.”
With different populations in winter and summer, Gimli boasts a “mishmash” of year-round and cottage properties. As residents age, Arnason says more all-season houses are being built – even if the owners don’t plan to live in them full time for a few years.
“Almost nobody builds a cottage anymore, they build a year-round house. Maybe they’ll only use it in the summer,” she said.
A typical three-bedroom bungalow costs about $230,000. Now the market’s returned to normal, Arnason expects prices to rise by 10 per cent or so in the next year.
Industrial
Robak also oversees the Gimli Business Park (formerly called the Gimli Industrial Park, but the name was changed to attract a wider range of businesses), where 15 or so lots will soon be for sale. Two more lots, geared toward air-related businesses, will be available at Gimli’s airport as well.
The town is also doing an airport feasibility study, part of a bigger plan to make the airport – currently home to a summertime cadet-training program, two flying schools and the province-owned water-bomber squadron, and acts as a skydive drop zone for Skydive Manitoba – more viable. Robak hopes to attract a cargo business to set up shop in Gimli, build a warehouse and service the north.
But the town’s population swings create a unique set of challenges. For example, a large public-works staff is required in summer to ensure cottagers are taken care of through things like expanded garbage collection. But this doesn’t negatively impact Gimli’s employment rate.
“We do have seasonal people who work only in the summer,” Greenberg said.
The tax base doesn’t fluctuate with the seasons either; what residents owe is based on the value of their property, not the amount of time they spend using it.
Whiskey
Gimli’s manufacturing industry is one most summer communities lack. Faroex is well regarded for making plastic materials like luggage racks for long-distance bus companies, snowmobile parts and crates for hog barns, and Crown Royal whisky maker Diagio – with 70 employees – attracts tourists.
A consistent challenge for Gimli, however, is that retailers and restaurants depend on summer crowds for a significant percentage of their revenue, so a wet or cool summer can mean the difference between a good or a bad year.
Quick facts: Gimli, MB
Average house price $230,000
Summer population 5,900
Winter population 10,000
Biggest employers Faroex Ltd. (manu-facturing), Diageo (Crown Royal whiskey), government
This article is from the August 2012 Western Investor.
