A major redevelopment in the land where the Kapyong Barracks used to be has finally begun construction.
Treaty One Development Corp. said in a news release Friday crews started working on the site — which has remained vacant in Winnipeg’s Tuxedo neighbourhood for the last two decades — earlier this week.
PCL Construction started laying the groundwork on one of the blocks slated for development in the Naawi-Oodena project’s first phase.
“This milestone isn’t just about buildings,” Treaty One Development Corp. president and Sagkeeng First Nation Chief E.J. Fontaine said in the release. “It is a testament to the commitment of the Treaty One nations and our allies to build towards a brighter future for all.”
The three-hectare Block A of the former military base — located on the northeast corner of Kenaston Boulevard and Taylor Avenue — will be home to a commercial mixed-use zone. Over half of Block A will be for medium-density residential use, according to the project’s master plan.
On the commercial mixed-use side, the Treaty One Development Corporation Business Park will house a 130,000-square foot commercial space alongside 95,000-square-foot commercial centre, the release said. Treaty One Development said construction for this parcel of land is expected to be done by 2028, with a gas bar set to become the first building to be completed, beginning operations next January.
The gas bar had been slated to open this summer when the first ground-breaking ceremony was held at the site last fall.
The barracks’ former lands were repatriated by Treaty One First Nations in 2022. Once completed, Naawi-Oodena would become Canada’s largest urban Indigenous economic development zone.
The seven First Nations involved are Brokenhead, Long Plain, Peguis, Roseau River, Sagkeeng, Sandy Bay and Swan Lake.
Sixty-eight per cent of the land is owned by those communities, and the rest is owned by Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation that’s a partner in the development.
When completed, the entire project could encompass up to 3,000 new residential units and 1.2 million square feet of commercial space.
The section currently in construction is owned by the Treaty One nations. The secondary plan for the Canada Lands-owned portion of the development — which unlike the rest, requires approval from the city — was adopted by council earlier this year.
The Kapyong Barracks were abandoned in 2004, when the 2nd Battalion was moved to Canadian Forces Base Shilo near Brandon.