A new ownership team has taken over Niverville Commons, the commercial development on the east end of Main Street. Realtor Mike Fast and his partner Bob Schinkel of Schinkel Properties (SP) are picking up where previous owners Sean Conway and Katie Knebel left off at 10 Cedar Drive and 290 Main Street.
“I was asked to sell the Commons and over time ended up partnering with SP to purchase it,” says Fast. “Niverville is growing like crazy and SP already owns and manages similar commercial spaces in Steinbach and Oakbank, so this seemed like a good fit.”
Schinkle says that SP has made a name for themselves in southeast Manitoba over the past few decades.
“We started in the mid-1980s with the building of Victoria Plaza in Steinbach and continued growing since then,” Schinkel says. “We manage more than 300,000 square feet of commercial space in rural Manitoba. At some point we decided hotels were worth a try and now we own six of them.”
Schinkel says that he and Fast liked the direction that Conway and Knebel had been headed with Niverville Commons, as well as the recent upgrades they’d completed.
Since SP and Fast have taken over, four unused spaces on the second level of 290 Main Street are being converted into residential suites. They will be ready by mid-August. Soon the exterior of the building will see a fresh coat of paint.
Although much of Niverville’s new development is currently focused on the community’s west side, these owners aren’t deterred. On the contrary, they believe they have an advantage in commercial space offerings.
“All towns need a variety of commercial space and Niverville Commons can lease at a fraction of the price of new,” says Fast. “With the cost of everything rising so quickly, we are finding that businesses are looking for value and vacancies in this sector have been low. It’s also in a great, easy to get to location on Main Street.”
Residential Country Living in Petite Pointe
These same partners own another development called Petite Pointe, a unique country living residential development located outside of Lorette.
Modeled after The Grande in Grande Pointe, Petite Pointe’s major selling features are its expansive two- to three-acre lots located in a pastoral setting close to major amenities. Its location is just minutes from Deacon’s Corner and the intersection of the Perimeter and Highway 59 on Winnipeg’s south side.
“Often when we develop there are multiple partners involved, so each development ends up being unique,” Fast says. “SP has a history of bringing [ownership] groups together and has the people in place to take a development from inception to completion, which is the case in Petite Pointe.”
Phase one of the 115-acre site has been developed into 48 lots, which are now for sale.
“We would expect to see a mix of homes,” Fast says. “But typically folks buy a two-acre lot to sprawl out in with a bungalow and some extra garage space or room for toys like boats, snowmobiles, RVs, etc.”
There are two other features of Petite Pointe, though, that set it apart according to Fast.
“The entire site is flood-protected by a berm that we built,” he says. “For other two-acre lots in the area, they would have to perch their home to beyond the one-in-200-year flood levels as set by the province. We considered perching, but it poses a big question mark for buyers about how much fill they would need to bring in to accomplish raising the house that high.”
Instead Fast and his partners hired engineers to draw up a berm solution that surrounds the entire development, in turn adding an attractive shelter while helping to maintain consistent grading from property to property inside the development.
The second unique factor is the requirement that all homebuilders meet architectural guidelines which are specific to Petite Pointe.
“Buyers often have hesitations towards the guidelines until they understand what the intent of them is,” Fast says. “The way I describe them is that someone cares about the house your neighbour is going to build, which in turn protects the value of your home. No one wants to build a beautiful home that they invest their life savings into and then have a neighbour build a substandard home which would reduce the value of your home.”
Fast says a similar model was used in The Grande development and everyone is so far very pleased with the results.
Petite Pointe lots, he says, cater to the folk who love their space as well as the peaceful quiet and wide-open skies unmarred by urban light pollution.
