Infrastructure
Not all the good news is above ground, either. Thanks to a $6.5 million grant from the federal government, Selkirk has doubled the size of its water-treatment plant and completed a storm sewer separation project, which should eliminate basement flooding.
"[Residents are] wondering why it wasn't done 30 years ago," Johannson said.
Not only is there capacity for future development, but the city could also sell water and waste services to neighbouring communities such as St. Andrews and St. Clements.
On the health, fitness and fun side, the city spent $200,000 on a splash pad in Selkirk Park and replaced all of the playground equipment. It upgraded the playground equipment in Hydro Park, too, and augmented it with year-round fitness equipment for adults.
Big boxes
Selkirk has slowly amassed a top-notch group of national and international retailers - like Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire - over the past few years, many of which were brought to town by Shindico Realty.
Staples will join the group later this year when it opens a 15,200-square-foot store in the Selkirk Crossing power centre. Wal-Mart recently expanded its location into "super centre" format.
John Pearson, a commercial broker with Shindico, said the company wouldn't be spending so much time, effort and money on Selkirk if it didn't have tremendous confidence in the city.
"It's the regional shopping hub for the trade area. It has the only Safeway, Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart and Staples [for miles around]. It has all of the chartered banks; no other centre in the trading can say that. There's a reason to come here," he said.
Selkirk has about 60,000 people in its trading area.
Pearson said Shindico has some undeveloped property where it would like to build a home-improvement centre to round out the retail offering in the area.
Housing
The commercial boom isn't trickling down to the local housing market, however, despite a general upturn in Manitoba home sales and prices.
Albert Sheppard, a realtor at Frontier Realty, said house prices, at an average of $200,000, are stable in Selkirk, but houses in nearby communities are appreciating in value.
He's at a loss to explain the housing market stagnation but he's confident that the conditions are turning in its favour. He said the city is running out of room to build more houses so decreasing supply should boost both demand and prices in the coming months and years.
from Western Investor October 2011
