Polo Park mall adding new stores in $50M redevelopment

WINNIPEG — Polo Park management hopes to increase foot traffic at the mall by 10 per cent by redeveloping almost 10 per cent of its floor space to make room for new popular retailers.

Polo Park announced Tuesday plans for 114,000 square feet of “redeveloped and new space” that will house several retailers making their first appearance in Winnipeg, including Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, plus Disney Store, Nine West, Thomas Sabo, Fossil, Journeys and Pandora. H&M, which already announced plans for a store in Polo Park, will also lease some of the space. The mall will keep its original footprint.

The development will cost $49 million, mall owner Cadillac Fairview said Tuesday. Much of the redevelopment will take place on the site of the now-vacant former Zellers.

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A total of 17 new stores will open in the mall in fall and another six will open in the new year, mall officials said.

Work on the redevelopment is already underway and is expected to completed “later this year,” the news release says.

Mall officials estimate the redevelopment will bring around 20,000 more shoppers to the mall.

That would put added pressure on the already crowded and construction-filled streets through St. James.

“It is no secret that the roadways in this area required some rehabilitation and in this case total reconstruction,” said Lester Deane, Winnipeg’s engineering manager.

Crews are already working on $40 million worth of road construction around Polo Park that will add turning lanes, completely rebuilt concrete roads and new water mains.

The city expects the majority of work on St. James Street, Ellice Avenue and St. Matthews Avenue will be done by October, which is when most of the new stores are slated to open.

Then there is next year’s road construction.

“If everything falls into place, we hope to acquire some properties — we hope to punch through the extension of St.Matthews all the way from St. James to Route 90,” said Deane.

The planned opening date for the new shopping space, which includes a new entry to the mall from the second story of the parkade, is Oct. 1.

Details of the plan include:

• 114,000 square feet of redeveloped and new space, creating a loop connecting the former Zellers entrance to a new mall entrance between Aldo Accessories and Guess;
• 65,000 square feet of this space will house new retailers;
• 25,000 square feet have been leased to H&M;
• the remaining area will be used for existing retail clients;
• 370 feet of new skylights, plus new soft seating to create a modern and bright shopping environment; and
• renovation of the entrance to the second-level parking deck.