As the world continues to open up, we’re welcoming new tenants, starting new developments and honouring our commitment to putting people first.
Since the dawn of the new year in January until now, we’ve seen some major moves forward for Shift REI. Some of those we are ready to share with you now, while others will need to wait until the next update.
Before we get into all this exciting news, we want to talk a little bit about what we’re doing with this blog, and our plans going forward.
How to stay informed about the latest developments
Blogs can be challenging to update. When we were pushing out a blog post a month (or more), it took a lot of time, and we found ourselves creating content for content’s sake.
That didn’t make sense to us.
So this year, we’ve decided to offer our readers updates via this blog to fulfill our commitment to keep our shareholders, tenants – and anyone else interested – well-informed about the future of Shift REI.
We hope this will make it simple for anyone interested in knowing more about our company to find solid information they can trust to make decisions, whether that’s investing with us, or signing a lease.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let's get on to the news.
Developing the Crowsnest Pass
The Crowsnest Pass is one of the undiscovered gems of Southern Alberta. The town, made up of the Village of Bellevue, the Town of Blairmore, the Town of Coleman, and the Village of Frank, follows the Crowsnest Pass Highway into the Rocky Mountains. With plenty of outdoor activities, like hiking, skiing and climbing, and gorgeous views of the mountains, we believe the Crowsnest Pass won’t remain undiscovered for long.
That’s why we’ve invested in a 6.2-acre piece of land in Blairmore. Located in the Crowsnest Pass right on the edge of Highway 3, the main link between Southern Alberta and B.C., the property is ready for development with flexibility in site planning.
We are now looking for tenants to work with us as we develop the land into a mix of commercial and professional space. Together, we'll design a space that works for all stakeholders.
We’re very excited to be part of this burgeoning community, and believe that this development will be a promising step forward, both for us and for the untamed lands of the Crowsnest Pass.
Community Highlights
Demographics
Summer and pass-through population: 17,620
Annual average daily traffic count: 22,070
Key Community Amenities
- Frank Slide Interpretive Centre
- Frank Slide Bouldering Area
- Bellevue Underground Mine Tours
- Crowsnest Museum and Archives
- Crowsnest Pass Golf Club
- Pass Powderkeg Ski Area
- Castle Mountain Resort
- Fernie Apline Resort
- Allison Cross Country Ski Trails
- 1,500 km of mapped and managed trails for quad touring and sledding
- Indoor recreation venues (ice arena, curling, skateboarding, climbing)
- Outdoor aquatic facility
- Sinister 7 Ultra (annual mountain race)
Welcoming new tenants to the family
At the beginning of 2022, we welcomed two new tenants into the Shift REI Family. So, we’d like to take a moment here and introduce them to our investors, tenants and everyone else in our extended family.
Gershaw Terrace
We are happy to welcome Alysha Gurney Counselling Services to Gershaw Terrace, 266 4 St. SW, Medicine Hat. Alysha is a clinical social worker and therapist, MSW, RSW, who offers therapeutic counselling support to children, teens, adults and families within the community of Medicine Hat and the surrounding area. She joins a variety of medical and professional service providers in Gershaw Terrace.
525 Mayor Magrath Drive
The Spa at Olivine, run by Sabrina Szmanski, joins Salon Olivine at 525 Mayor Magrath Drive, Lethbridge.
Providing a high-tech luxury experience focusing on healing the mind and body, The Spa at Olivine’s mission is to go above and beyond industry expectations to provide high-quality professional services to guests, allowing them to feel renewed, balanced and beautiful from the inside out.
With this new tenant, 525 Mayor Magrath Drive, a recently-constructed development by Shift REI, is now fully leased. The two businesses, a hair salon and a spa, work together to offer an oasis in the heart of Lethbridge.
The Spa at Olivine is currently in the design and development phase with an anticipated opening in the fall of 2022.
Electrifying our Dealerships
The auto industry is going through a major shift right now, transitioning from internal combustion engines that run on petrochemicals to cleaner electric vehicles (EVs). As a developer with direct connections to dealerships, we believe it’s important to lead the industry forward into this change and create solutions to tomorrow’s problems.
One of the largest problems EVs face today is the lack of charging stations. This makes it much harder to travel long distances. To pave the way for a new, electric future, we are preparing many of our dealerships for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations (EV chargers).
By equipping each of our properties with the necessities of the future, we’re striving to lead the industry into a cleaner future. Currently, we are planning to complete the installation of the EV charging stations by the fall of this year (2022).
Homes of Hope International
It’s easy to get caught up in chasing success and overlook the people around us who are chasing the necessities of life.
At Shift REI, we want to make sure we are a constructive part of our community, both here in Lethbridge and abroad. That starts with treating our investors, employees and tenants right, but it doesn’t stop there.
That’s why we've decided to reach out and give back to our global community. And what better way than by doing what we know best – investing in a new building.
Except with this new project, we’ll be building a home for a family in need. We’ve partnered with Homes of Hope to start the process to build a home for a family in Ensenada, Mexico in November of this year.
This may be our smallest project yet, but we know it will have the biggest impact.
Growing to meet your need
With our recent growth, the Shift Real Estate Maintenance Team is expanding. We’ve recently filled our summer student position and want to welcome Mark Burry to the team. But, we are still looking for new members to fill vacant spots, including:
- A full-time maintenance assistant
- Members for our snow removal team (positions will become available come winter 2022)
More on the horizon
Our biggest announcements, unfortunately, didn’t quite come together to make this article. However, we’re just putting the final touches on this agreement, so we’re sure that by the next update we’ll be able to share even more exciting news.
We look forward to sharing this news with you come summer 2022.