ManitobaA long vacant industrial site in Winnipeg’s St. Boniface neighbourhood will soon see a mix of housing and retail structures rise up under the watch of a 112-year-old water tower.’This is the true definition of infill. It’ll lift the entire neighbourhood up’: Sandy ShindlemanDarren Bernhardt · CBC News · Posted: Oct 22, 2025 1:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoThe former Union Stockyards water tower overlooks the construction of roads through the former industrial site. (olexadevelopments.com)A long vacant industrial site in Winnipeg’s St. Boniface neighbourhood will soon see a mix of housing and retail structures rise up under the watch of a 112-year-old water tower.Shindico Realty has acquired more than 14.3 acres of land in what is promised to be a 66 hectare development known as the Water Tower District.Construction is set to begin in spring, Shindico founder and president Sandy Shindleman told CBC Manitoba Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Wednesday”This is the true definition of infill. It’ll lift the entire neighbourhood up. We’re excited about the possibilities for all the things that can happen,” he said.The site — south of Marion Street between Archibald Street and Dawson Road — will eventually hold 70 acres of industrial/commercial development, 25 acres of multi-family residences, 20 acres of retail space and 22 acres of parks, public reserves, community gardens and recreation spaces, said Calgary-based Olexa Developments, which owns the land.The proposed development of the Water Tower District is seen on a map from Olexa Developments. (Olexa Developments)Amenities will include shops, restaurants, grocery stores and financial institutions. There will be active transportation routes throughout the site, with connections to the city’s transit corridor, plans say.Peg City Car Co-op has signed on to supply about 10 car-share vehicles in the district, the plans say. Water Tower DistrictIt will also include about 2,000 housing units in condos and apartment buildings.Shindleman estimates the cost of the project will be more than $1 billion once complete.Shindico’s portion of the development is near the corner of Marion and Paulette Duguay streets, where it will build a mixed-use retail space it hopes will be anchored at one end by a grocery store and at the other by a discount store.Adjacent to that, it has a joint venture with Olexa to build about 10 acres — about 700 units — of multi-family housing. Construction on Shindico’s portion will begin in spring, with the aim of having retailers taking occupancy in late 2027.The residential part is expected to be completed a little after that, Shindleman said.Shindico’s portion of the Water Tower District development will be on the grassy parcel seen in the lower part of the photo. (shindico.com)The Water Tower District was once full of cattle as home to the Union Stockyards and a number of meat-packing plants.The stockyard was first created in 1913 as a market for live animals. That attracted meat-packing plants, which soon set up nearby. The combination of the two created Canada’s largest livestock market.A view of the Union Stockyards in 1942. (Archives of Manitoba)Canada Packers was one of the best-known processing companies at the site. It was created in 1927 through the merger of several of the other plants.The stockyards shut down in 1988, while Canada Packers lingered a little longer. Its buildings were among the last remaining structures on the site when they were demolished in 2001.The company became part of Maple Leaf Foods in 1991.The water tower is now the only remnant of the site’s former existence.An undated image shows the water tower in the Union Stockyards. (City of Winnipeg Archives)Several ideas for redevelopment have come and gone over the years, including becoming the new home for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The land was purchased from the city by Canad Inns in 2007, which proposed it as a site for a stadium that was ultimately built at the University of Manitoba.It was then purchased by Olexa, which partnered with Shindico to make the Water Tower District happen.Shindico’s Robert Scaletta became the development manager, but Shindleman said the company quickly decided it also had to invest.”[We] looked at the land and saw the great potential that it had, so when the opportunity came … we decided to come on board,” he said.Remediation work to remove environmental damage from the site’s previous incarnation has taken place over the years, while the project has moved through “all the levels of government that you have to do to get the infrastructure put in,” Shindleman said.In June 2024, a City of Winnipeg council committee voted to allow the number of housing units to increase from 1,200 and increase the maximum building height from 10 storeys to 14.More recently, work at the site has involved preparation, with roads, services and retention ponds going in. In a YouTube post aimed at attracting tenants, Scaletta said the underground work is 60 per cent done, and about 10 per cent of the roadwork is completed.For Shindleman, the project represents a full-circle moment.”Fifty-two years ago I worked in the Union Stockyards as a cattle buyer and provided a lot of the meat that went into the Burns plant, now a Maple Leaf hog plant,” he said.”So that was my old stomping grounds.” WATCH | Introduction to Water Tower District:ABOUT THE AUTHORDarren Bernhardt has been with CBC Manitoba since 2009 and specializes in offbeat and local history stories. He is the author of two bestselling books: The Lesser Known: A History of Oddities from the Heart of the Continent, and Prairie Oddities: Punkinhead, Peculiar Gravity and More Lesser Known Histories.
Winnipeg’s historic Water Tower District embarks on new future
