Sudbury’s east end shopping district keeps growing

The Kingsway shopping district in Sudbury continues to grow in leaps and bounds with a number of new retail outlets, two new hotels in the works, and plans for acres of residential subdivisions.

Its most recent tenant is developer Norm Bouffard, who purchased a wall of rock and swamp across from the RioCan Centre three years ago and began blasting and contouring the 4.42-hectare property over the last two years to accommodate his 21,000-square-foot shopping outlet.

With a concrete pad down and structural steel being erected in August, Bouffard was confident of moving into his new store by Christmas. About two-thirds of the building will be the future home of his sporting goods store, Skater’s Edge, with the remainder set aside for a Jump! The Skate and Dance gymnastics store, a Jump! The Baby outlet, and a Pita Pit.

“This was a big bite,” said Bouffard said of the tons of rock blasted away and his personal undisclosed investment on the property.

To save on costs, Bouffard employed a cut-and-fill method to process thousands of tons of rock, using it as on-site aggregate. The property and access road is slightly elevated from the street.

After 15 years on Lasalle Boulevard, Bouffard had simply run out of space to expand his business.

“Bigger, better, brighter; we were just too small on Lasalle. We needed a bigger building first and foremost, and there aren’t that many good new buildings available in the right areas, so where could you go?

“With retail, it’s about a shopping experience as well. You want to walk in and feel wowed a bit, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

“It’s a natural progression in the world of retail. Sudbury has always been a hidden secret in the North, but it’s central to the North. Timmins and North Bay (shoppers) tend to want to shop here than go down to Toronto. “

He’ll have some company on the site.

Bouffard severed and sold two parcels on his property to two other developers.

One has tabled plans for a 23,000-square-foot furniture store and two other retail outlets. The other end will be the future home of a 100-guest room Microtel and a restaurant.

The evolution and growth of Sudbury’s The Kingsway-Barry Downe area into a power shopping corridor began in the late 1990s with a rezoning to permit a mall on an initial 15-acre property.

Tired of hearing about Sudburians spending their retail dollars in Barrie, city council embraced big box shopping in passing an Official Plan amendment to allow these developments to be located in a light-industrial service corridor.

The popularity of these new format centres has led to successive phases of development that began with a Costco, Chapter’s and Silver City multi-screen theatre. Once Costco appeared, the city began to actively market adjoining property and soon retailers like Home Depot came into the picture.

The whole development, known as the RioCan Centre, has since become a magnet for other retail to take root.

“Good on them. It’s the reason why I’m here. If they weren’t there, I wouldn’t be here,” said Bouffard. “It’s the new Golden Mile in my mind. Everybody congregates in this area from the south end, and from out of town.”

“Right now, it’s very hot from the perspective of development,” agrees Guido Mazza, the city’s chief building official. “And we’ll probably see a bit more.”

With wide and easily accessible roads, The Kingsway is the city’s major entrance from the east.

The city rehabilitated the site of a derelict hotel property, the former Kingsway Hotel, and sold it to a private developer who has plans for multi-use commercial and residential building.

Additional land behind the site has been acquired for parking.

Near the bustling Barry Downe and Kingsway intersection, groundbreaking is slated for a six-storey, 119-suite Hilton Garden Inn on vacant land behind an existing strip of commercial and retail that includes The Keg and the Bianco’s appliance and electronics store.

The property owners, Redekop, were arranging financing to begin construction by the end of August.