Rumours have been circulating for years about the possibility of Flying J opening a new location along Highway 75 in Ste. Agathe. Finally, those rumours can be confirmed.
“The deal closed on August 30 after over two years of delay getting the project approved,” says Shaun Crew, the Chairman of the Riel Industrial Park in Ste. Agathe. He also serves as a volunteer for Ste. Agathe Community Development Inc. “My involvement in this project was making the sale of industrial park land to the Pilot Flying J.”
So what took so long?
“There were a number of issues with the design, but the biggest delay came with getting the provincial MIT [Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation] to approve a vehicular access off PR 305 into the east end of the proposed site through a public reserve area that is slated for a future diamond interchange,” Crew explains, adding that several traffic studies had to be completed before the site could be approved.
Construction began first thing in September and will continue through the fall and early winter. The Pilot Flying J is currently slated to open in January 2018. There will be a Subway restaurant onsite.
According to Crew, Ste. Agathe is the ideal community for companies like Pilot and Flying J to put down roots.
“Ste. Agathe is perfectly located along Highway 75,” he points out. “[It’s] the mid-continental trade corridor between Canada and the U.S.A. and is a major trucking route for trans-border trade. Our proximity to Winnipeg makes it ideal to avoid the higher taxes and traffic congestion found in the city.”
In the meantime, Crew adds that there has been a lot of interest in other industrial park lots. SURCA Transport and Tresun Trucking have located terminals there and Hemp Oil Canada is planning to build a 70,000-square-foot hemp food processing facility in the near future. Delmar Commodities is establishing a new grain packaging terminal, and both Viterra and G3 have recently opened super grain terminals nearby, further increasing local truck traffic.
The future looks bright for this new addition to Ste. Agathe’s business landscape.
