Eagle Landing starts to take flight
The Walmart store opening in November at the Eagle Landing shopping
centre on land leased from the Squiala First Nation marked what could
be a new era in Chilliwack`s economy.
With the opening
of Galaxy Cinemas eight-theatre complex the following month, a Home
Depot store nearing completion, and other retailers lining up for a
piece of the action, Eagle Landing could become the largest unenclosed
shopping centre in B.C.
In addition to drawing shoppers
from surrounding communities, the joint venture project between the
Squiala and the Property Development Group may also change shopping
patterns in Chilliwack.
Downtown merchant Ken Popove
told The Progress in April that shoppers following Walmart to the Eagle
Landing, instead of the two malls south of the Trans-Canada, might
return to downtown `specialty` stores, if road access is improved
through the old UFV campus now slated for re-development.
`It`s an opportunity to get more people on this side of the highway,` he said.
Downtown merchants saw a decline in shoppers when the two malls were built south of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Walmart left its location at the Chilliwack Mall for the Eagle Landing development.
PDG
partner Keith McRae said the company saw a `jewel of an opportunity` in
a retail development on the Squiala land because of its easy access to
the Trans-Canada Highway to catch the eye of shoppers from Hope and
Merritt heading to the `big box` stores in Abbotsford.
He
also said there was a `pent up demand` for retail space on land not
tied up in the agricultural reserve to justify a 600,000-square foot
development, making Eagle Landing the largest unenclosed shopping
centre in the Lower Mainland. In comparison, the Cottonwood Mall is
234,000 square feet.
But without the Evans Road flyover
and city council`s far-sighted purchase of a road right-of-way up to
the Squiala land, the development would likely not have gone ahead for
lack of access.
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