St-Norbert – A story of heritage, growth and prosperity

St-Norbert is the southern gateway into the City of Winnipeg. A community rich with French and Métis roots dating back to the early 1800s and chock-full of stories and heritage assets that would be mostly missed as you travel through it via the six-lane tarmac that is Pembina Highway. Looking to change this, Entreprises Riel collaborated with community groups to survey needs and aspirations. It quickly became clear that housing options were required. The community was comprised of almost exclusively single-family homes and a seniors’ complex but nothing in between. We understood that we needed to attract investment to find housing alternatives so the community could find options to age in place.

Our first order of the day was to create an inviting area where people would stop to take notice and where residents would gather and be proud of their chosen community. Entreprises Riel undertook a series of main street beautification initiatives while collaborating with community advocates to find ways of starting a new Business Improvement Zone. Both were achieved and people, investors and government started to take notice. We were approached by the provincial government to see if we required funding to study the growth potential of the Farmers’ Market. The market happened to be thinking about this and the funding gave birth to the Vision 2020 Study and report that has guided the growth of the market since then. Drainage projects, a permanent structure and bathrooms have since been added allowing the market to grow as a year-round attraction. Simultaneously, we worked with the City of Winnipeg to undertake a secondary plan and a design guideline for the area. We then approached developers that understood the community and that would be willing to consider investing in high-quality housing developments as a starting point. This brought the Renaissance to the market which sold out before it was built. This success opened the gates and with our guidance, developers have developed all available parcels on Pembina since then.