PetSmart opened for business in January at the Crown Isle Shopping Centre, but the pandemic has waylaid construction on the remaining section of the third and final phase of the mall.
Nova Scotia-based Crombie REIT, which owns the entire shopping centre, had planned to have a second smaller building in place last year at the corner of Ryan and Lerwick roads.
“It’s (COVID) definitely slowed things down a bit on the leasing front,” said Kevin Pritchard, Crombie REIT’s director of development for Western Canada. “We’re starting to see a little bit of renewed interest in the last build we had to construct. Hopefully we’ll get some tenants in place and be able to commence construction on it this year.”
The building containing PetSmart is about 12,000 square feet. The second building, which includes an identified restaurant space, will be about 6,500 square feet.