COLUMN: Carillon Flashback November 19, 1986 – Steinbach firm announces downtown development

One of Steinbach’s oldest businesses has announced plans for a major office and retail complex to be built on Main Street.

George F. Loewen, of C.T. Loewen and Sons, told an invited business audience, his family company has completed negotiations for a post office complex and retail shopping mall on land owned by him and several new investors, and occupied for many years by the C.T. Loewen building centre and lumber yard.

Loewen said plans for the development are expected to be ready by the new year with construction tentatively scheduled to begin in spring.

A new company, C.T. Loewen Plaza, has been formed to develop the mall on the 8½-acre property fronting on Main Street and Reimer Avenue.

The complex, in which the post office will lease 10,000 square feet and become the anchor tenant, will occupy an estimated 75,000 square feet. A building of this size could be expected to cost about $4 million.

Second phase plans call for construction of townhouses and apartment buildings to be built northeast of the commercial development. The two developments would be separated by an extension of Elmdale Drive to be continued to Elm Avenue.

Loewen, in a prepared statement, said Provencher MP Jake Epp has assisted in negotiations with the post office, adding the present post office facilities are no longer adequate.

He described the proposed development as a catalyst serving to enhance downtown Steinbach as a major supply and service centre for southeastern Manitoba. Loewen noted, both civil officials and local businessmen have voiced concerns in the past over the future vitality of Main Street commercial activity in the face of increasing development at the town’s north end.

He said the complex will increase the town’s tax base, attract more customers to the downtown area, and provide residents of the region with additional shopping facilities.

Loewen added, the new development company is considering selling shares in the future to give smaller investors an opportunity to participate.

C.T. Loewen Plaza is comprised of George and Helen Loewen, who owned the property and buildings, Bob Banman, Gordon Kreutzer and Rick Derksen. The Loewens own 40 percent of the new company, while the new shareholders each have a 20-percent holding.

C.T. Loewen and Sons president Gary Loewen said his company has not yet decided whether its building supply centre will become part of the new mall or relocate to a site it owns on Highway 12 at the north end of town.

– with files from Peter Dyck