Two apartment buildings planned for Moosomin
November 22, 2022, 4:20 pm
Kevin Weedmark
The Brandon developer who is planning to build two apartment buildings in Moosomin next year says he has had his eye on the community for a long time and says he believes Moosomin has a lot of potential for growth.
“Moosomin has always been on my radar,” says Evan Keller. “I actually worked at RBC about 10 years ago, covering that area. I was a commercial account manager for Royal Bank so that helped me get familiar with the area. I have friends that live in the area as well so I have watched it grow over the years and I’ve always had my eye on it. There’s been a few people from Moosomin that have reached out to us and kind of knocked on our door about coming there as well—different people from the community.
“Our most recent connection would be Kim from Royal Lepage. We work with Royal Lepage here in Brandon and they connected us with Kim and she’s been fantastic in helping us navigate our dealings in the community.”
He said there are just a few pieces to put in place for the development. “We’re three quarters of the way there,” he said. “We still have some steps to take before this project breaks ground but the plan is this spring. We’re just working through those last few steps to make sure everything is a go and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
He said he has found it easy to work with local businesses and the town.
“We did spend some time in the community talking to a few business owners a couple months back. Overall it’s been all positive and dealing with the town has been good. I would say that it’s a little easier doing business in Moosomin than let’s say a city like Brandon. It definitely was a lot simpler that way. Smaller communities tend to be a little more that way—the council and mayors are a lot more receptive and more open to do business the old school way. You have a conversation, do what you say you’re going to do, shake hands and move forward. I always like doing business that way. That’s one of the perks of working with a growing centre like Moosomin that still has their rural roots.”
So what else has to fall into place before the project proceeds?
“We still have some drawings to complete like home design, engineering and all that fun stuff. There will be a few reports we have to get done like environmental and geotechnical, those sort of things we still have in front of us. Those are the main things we have to get done before our spring start.”
Construction should take about a year.
“I would say a year to be safe,” said Keller. “We’ve certainly done it faster and depending on what the interest level is in the community. We are currently doing a little bit of research on that front too. We understand that there are some businesses here and the surrounding area that are looking for rentals themselves to secure for their staff, so once we have our head wrapped around that a little more clearly we’ll probably adapt our timeline to match those needs.”
He said this is a good time to be investing in Moosomin.
“It seems like Moosomin is hitting a critical mass in terms of where it’s located and what it’s up to. I think doing business in Saskatchewan in general is a bit easier than Manitoba, I would say from what I’ve gathered so far. There’s definitely more of a pro-business and pro-growth feel so it’s kind of neat to see that.
“I definitely like what I’m seeing in Moosomin. We always take it step-by-step.
“I think Moosomin has a lot of potential and I think if everything lines up here the way we hope and we get going, then as soon as we get this one locked in place then we’ll start looking for something else there, I would think, right away.”
