Construction for apartment buildings in town will start spring, developer tells Chamber members
February 2, 2023, 1:41 pm
Sierra D'Souza Butts
On Jan. 24 at the Moosomin Chamber of Commerce meeting, Evan Keller of Keller Developments introduced himself to members, and gave an update on where the company is at for building two apartment buildings in town.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to come out and meet the community. I want to thank Kevin, Mayor Tomlinson and the town council for being so supportive as we started this whole journey probably a year ago,” said Keller.
“Our intentions are to start construction on the project this spring. We are a pretty vertically-integrated company. We have a lumber store, an electrical company, all those things in house, but we’re very open to working with local contractors.”
Based in Brandon, Manitoba, Keller said he is looking forward to working with the community in Moosomin.
“We’re thankful for all of the support. There’s been many open doors as we came into the community. We met with some business owners and sort of got a feel for it over the last little while,” he said.
“I was here, about seven or eight years ago, with RBC. I worked as a commercial account manager so there’s some familiar faces in the room.
“If anyone has any questions please reach out. I brought along my general manager from our lumber store Jace, to get a feel for the community and see what’s going on here. It’s pretty cool to see how filled this room is, I can definitely sense there’s some good energy out here.”
Kevin Weedmark of the Moosomin Chamber of Commerce asked Keller why he chose Moosomin to build the apartments in.
“I think there’s lots of positive things happening here,” said Keller.
“We sort of sensed it, I guess. Even in Brandon you can sense what’s going on out here. We see the housing need, we sort of have had a success in that multi-residential world, it just seemed like a natural fit to look down the highway.
“We have done projects here in Moosomin before, we did frame the hotel next door.”
The two 12-unit apartment buildings will be built on South Front Street between Ogilvie and Alberni.
“The apartments will be for rent, we are going to put the buildings in the market. That’s just our mode of operation as we don’t keep everything, we keep about 50 per cent of what we do,” said Keller.
“We are prepared to keep what we are going to build, but if there’s local investors that want to buy it and have us manage it, we’re 100 per cent open to that.”
He said Keller Developments is planning to build mostly two bedroom and three bedroom units, as of right now.
Construction is expected to start in May or June of this year, and should be completed around the 12 month mark.
EECOL Electric officially opens in town
The manager of EECOL Electric in Moosomin, William Schnellert, informed members about the opening of his new business in town.
“We’re the electric distributer throughout western Canada. We have branches throughout Ontario all the way to Moosomin, to Alberta and B.C.,” said Schnellert.
“It’s exciting for the new traffic now that we’re open in Moosomin. We’re looking to support the electrical contractors that are currently in town. As well as the mines and other businesses that need electrical products, we are here to support you too.
“We’re hoping to be a part of the community and help you guys with growth in the future.”
Chamber members welcomed Schnellert to town.
The new business is located on 1815 Celebration Drive in Moosomin. This is the company’s sixth location in southern Saskatchewan.
Idea for opening a rural package pickup business in town
At Tuesday’s meeting, Matthew Pister discussed his idea for setting up a building in town, for rural residents to have easier access to picking up delivered packages.
“We want to support people who live here and outside of town who do not have access to any sort of courier or PO Box deliveries,” said Pister.
“We want to have a building that’s available 24/7 that couriers have access to, where they can drop off the package and not have to worry about the location of it.
“The courier would arrive, drop it off, and the person will receive a notification on their phone through text or email, saying the package has been delivered. They’ll also have access codes to enter the building, which will be available 24/7.
“It’s to serve the rural community, and to have access to couriers for people who live out of town. It will also serve people in town if they want to secure packages and be able to pick them up whenever.”
The goal for the rural package pickup building is to give people easier access to getting parcels delivered and picking them up, especially for people who live outside of town on a farm or in a surrounding rural community.
Pister is currently in the process of working on the administration details for developing the business to be in Moosomin.
“After getting a little more exposure, I’m still in the feasibility stage, but so far it’s been a positive interaction,” he said.
“Hopefully after another month or so, of sending postcards, Plain & Valley ads, Facebook ads, we’ll gain more support.”
An individual at the meeting asked Pister if he has a location in mind for the business.
“I don’t have a building selected. I have some options with the buildings in town that are available,” he said. “There are some buildings that would work, it’s all looking feasible as of right now, but we’re still deciding.”
