Come Christmas, Sechelt residents could be sipping Tim Hortons hot chocolates and double doubles and they won’t need to drive to Gibsons for the pleasure.
The franchise is the first new anchor tenant to be named by Tsain-Ko Development Corporation, as part of the third construction phase of the Tsain-Ko Village Shopping Centre, located on the Sunshine Coast Highway across from the Sechelt/shíshálh Hospital.
Construction for the third phase, which will complete the development of the mall site, is set to start Sept. 5, and Tim Hortons is expected to open by Dec. 21.
“This is the culmination of a lot of efforts of a larger project team,” said economic development officer Jason Jenkins, acknowledging the corporation’s expanded operations, which began last year as plans for the third phase ramped up.
The Tim Hortons will be located on the currently vacant lot next to the highway and across the entrance from Starbucks. The restaurant will have an outside patio, a drive-thru and is “a newer standard model,” according to Jenkins. While Jenkins could not provide the name of the franchise owner, he said the franchisee isn’t local and is unrelated to the Tim Hortons in Gibsons.
Jenkins said construction of other tenant buildings, which can’t be disclosed because of ongoing lease negotiations, would take between 18 and 24 months to complete. “Once the centre is filled up in a couple of years, people will have between six and 10 new tenants in the shopping centre,” he said.
Converge Construction is the development’s general contractor and it will be hiring contractors from shíshálh Nation and Nation members for construction work, which Jenkins said is a primary focus for the development corporation. In terms of the mall’s future businesses, he said the priority is “to get a solid mix of tenants.”
The development of the seven-acre parcel includes the construction of another large commercial rental unit (CRU) building that will extend from the current strip mall containing A&W, Mark’s Work Wearhouse, Your Dollar Store with More and The Source. Several store “pads” will also be built on the portion of the lot next to the highway.
Jenkins said he doesn’t anticipate any changes to traffic flow during construction. “The nice thing about Phase 3 is that it currently sits on a very large flat area, so we can isolate construction activities within that area without this affecting anyone in the shopping centre right now.” He said there would be no loss of parking or access, but traffic flow will change once the construction is complete with the introduction of a drive-through lane.
Another anchor tenant is expected to form part of the new construction phase but has yet to be disclosed because negotiations are ongoing.
The public groundbreaking ceremony was slated for Aug. 30, after Coast Reporter’s print deadline. The franchise owner will be introduced at the ceremony, in addition to an opening blessing by elder Jamie Dixon and a prayer song by Andy Johnson. Tim Hortons coffee and doughnuts will be served.
The Tsain-Ko shopping centre, owned by shíshálh Nation, has been in development since the early 2000s and began with the construction of Extra Foods grocery store, which was rebranded as Your Independent Grocer in 2015. The strip mall containing stores such as Mark’s Work Wearhouse and The Source was completed approximately eight years ago.
