Fanshawe Park and Highbury - retail plaza (Under Construction)

[CanadianTalk]

Looks like we could finally see the lands at the NW corner of Fanshawe Park and Highbury developed soon as another mega shopping plaza. For at least the past decade (possibly longer), there has been some sort of a "coming soon" sign on the property from several different developers over the years. Westdell now owns the land, and they put their own "Coming soon" sign I would say within the last year, and they recently put up another new sign.

I contacted planning staff a while ago, asking if an application has already been submitted for this site, and apparently council already granted the zoning change many many years ago, so there will be no more public notices posted, everything else will be administrative btwn the city and developer (unless Westdell chooses to use the land for something else).

So on the city's recent agenda for their Urban Design Peer Review Panel, this property was up for discussion for "Site Plan Consultation", which is always the next step after the zoning change. https://london.ca/sites/default/files/2022-11/AODA%20Agenda_2022-11-16%20REVISED.pdf

Westdell is calling this Stoney Creek Commons https://www.westdellcorp.com/project_post/stoney-creek-commons/

Here is the current site plan from their website. It could change since site plan consultation is occurring now

[CanadianTalk]

Though I am really looking forward to this (biased, since I live within walking distance lol), I do wish that this development would be something more innovative, and different from the usual big-box plazas we see, such as a mixed-use development. But since the property is already zoned for retail stores, I'm not sure Westdell would want to go through the entire zoning process from the start and redo the zoning applications.

However since council recently changed their minimum parking standards, I could see some of the space currently dedicated for parking swapped for more retail space, assuming there is the demand for extra retail.

Edited to add: also not sure if whether with the current zoning for the site, if the buildings could be taller than 1 storey, which would be nice. At Westdell's site at Fanshawe/Richmond they recently constructed a 3 storey retail/office building at the corner, and at their proposed Southdale/Col Talbot site, they have a 4s office building proposed right at the corner there as well.

[K85]

there will 100% be more buildings... this area is seeing a large build up, and it's getting faster.

[jammer139]

They have been marketing this for well over a decade now. Finding an anchor tenant has been the biggest of many challenges I suspect. Even the 105,000 sq ft store is likely too small for the likes of Walmart to consider moving from Northland Mall up to this location. Walmart would likely want to built a new store in their Supercenter format which can be as large as 250,000 sq ft. Also they think they will get a grocery store as well which would conflict with a Walmart Supercenter. The Northland Walmart is a very good location but really undersized. I don't think this location is going to lure the likes of a HomeDepot or Rona/Lowes either. Can't really think of a retail that would be interested in the 105,000 building. The need for 2-3s office/retail mixed use is also tough given the very high office vacancy rates. Mixed use residential could be interesting if they changed the design from a big box layout to a urban streetscape with underground parking, retail ground floor and residential above. Building that design is significantly more expensive then the cheap big box design.

[MolsonExport]

London badly needs a third Costco (the other two are bursting at the seams, especially the one on Wonderland). This would be a great location for a third Costco.

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

London badly needs a third Costco (the other two are bursting at the seams, especially the one on Wonderland). This would be a great location for a third Costco.

Don't forget about Wholesale Club- and no membership is needed. It's located behind the Best Buy on Wellington.

I go there a few times a year to stock up on some bulk frozen items and stuff, and I'm set for BBQs for the year.

The hours aren't great and the location is weird but if you need bulk food its a great pick to avoid the carnage of Costco mentality. Speaking of bulk, don't forget Bulk Barrel/Barn either.

---

A third Costco here would be welcome for sure but oh boy would it be a traffic generator. That would likely require Highbury to be Widened to Sunningdale, Fanshawe widened to Clarke, and Clarke widened to VMP.

[CanadianTalk]

Thought I'd check out Westdell's website to see if anything has changed since November, and it looks like they slightly updated the site plan.

Interesting that it's now only showing the bottom half of the site (which excludes the proposed 100K sq ft store). I wonder if they have different plans for that portion.

https://www.westdellcorp.com/project_post/stoney-creek-commons/

[FWD15]

I'm guessing that's a Tim Hortons right at the corner of Highbury and Fanshawe by the drive thru and size of the building.

[jammer139]

Extension for 3 years for the draft site plan for the south portion of these lands. Drewlo had submitted a draft sub division plan for the north portion of these lands which goes up to Sunningdale Rd. That is now being reworked due to debate over provincially significant wetlands designation. The south section is where Westdell has their retail proposal plus a couple of blocks of residential which back onto the creek and SWM pond. It's very likely Westdell is not going to land a major tenant until the entire area gets their zoning plans sorted out.



https://pub-london.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=96500

[CanadianTalk]

Did a little bit of digging online and I found the following info through a Facebook post, posted a couple months ago, from Network Franchising International who does the franchising for Freshii (a fast food chain).

https://www.nfi.ca/freshii

Address: 1300 Fanshawe Park Road East, London, ON

• Situated at the north-west corner of Fanshawe Park Road and Highbury Avenue
• Phase 1 will include national grocer, pharmacy and dollar store as anchors
• Landlord is also working to finalize deals for Starbucks and an international burger chain drive thrus
• Phase 2 will be a single tenant "Canadian Automotive Retailer" (Canadian Tire)

[CanadianTalk]

Updated site-plan shows that Food Basics, Shoppers Drug Mart, Dollarama, Starbucks, and McDonalds will be tenants of this proposed plaza at Fanshawe Park and Highbury

https://www.westdellcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Stoney-Creek-Commons-SITE-PLAN.pdf

[jammer139]

Guess the Canadian Tire deal fell thru?


Also they have rejigged the layout alot and the one suggestion of including residential is also ruled out.


Any idea when construction work will start?

[CanadianTalk]

This proposed plaza at Fanshawe and Highbury came up for discussion in a neighbourhood facebook group.

Building permit was filed last week for construction of Food Basics Building.

Here is an updated site-plan: https://www.loopnet.com/viewer/pdf?file=...0Creek%2520Commons%2520SITE%2520PLAN.pdf

So far, this is what is on the map. There are still quite a few spots left.

• Food Basics
• Shoppers Drug Mart
• Dollarama
• McDonalds
• Subway
• Starbucks
• Church's Chicken
• Dynacare
• Osmos shawarma
• COBS Bread
• Guac Mexi Grill
• Stacked Pancake House

[haljackey]

I really think this is a prime location for Costco #3. There is demand considering how crazy the two existing stores are.

[ericmacm]

Originally Posted by haljackey

I really think this is a prime location for Costco #3. There is demand considering how crazy the two existing stores are.

I agree. NE London could absolutely use a Costco. Seems like they are focusing on GTA West (Oakville and NW Mississauga have them in the pipeline, with the Mississauga one being a Costco Business Centre) and Brantford at the moment though.

[CanadianTalk]

I think construction is about to begin on this new plaza. Fencing was erected around this site within the last week, and there are some construction materials on-site.

Various building permits have been filed in Feb, March, and April of this year according to the online city portal.

[jammer139]

Some actual earth moving has started happening.

[CanadianTalk]

Here is an updated site-plan:

https://www.westdellcorp.com/stoney-creek-commons/

[White737]

Looks like they’re doing sewer work

[jammer139]

Foundation footings and walls have started to be formed and poured for the new Food Basics store in the NW corner of this site.