The president of the company behind the so-far deserted New Horizon Mall north of Calgary says they fully expected a slow start to business there. The 320,000-square-foot, Asian-inspired mall boasting more than 500 units is modelled on Toronto's Pacific Mall, albeit with several million fewer people living nearby. Retail units at the New Horizon Mall were sold privately to buyers, much like selling a condo. The developer sold 99 per cent of them. But so far most are empty with only 11 open for business since the mall opened in May. The developer behind the $200-million project is playing it cool. Meanwhile, sites like Kijiji are full of increasingly desperate ads offering space to lease in the mall. The ads feature reduced rents and incentives like three and even six months free rent, with some rents as low as $399 per month — and still no takers. Eli Swirsky is president of the Torgan Group, the developer behind the New Horizon Mall and Toronto’s Pacific Mall, which opened in the 1990s. (Dan McGarvey/CBC) "Back in 1997, we built a similar mall in Toronto, Pacific Mall. We went through exactly the same process," said Eli Swirsky, president of the Torgan Group, which developed the New Horizon Mall with partner MPI Property Group. "There were over 400 stores and it took about two years from beginning to end, and 18 months from beginning to reaching 75 per cent occupancy," said Swirsky, who believes New Horizon is on track to match Pacific Mall's success. A walk around New Horizon Mall is a surreal experience with a huge expanse of unoccupied storefronts and walkways along with a deserted food court and parkade. But that will change, according to the developer. "The pace is going to accelerate. This is the beginning of the process and it is on-plan, on-schedule and totally expected," said Swirsky, despite a grand opening event planned for later this month being cancelled and pushed back to an as yet undetermined date in 2019. Right now the mall sits mostly empty with vast walkways of empty stores, all still for lease. The mall is 99 per cent sold with purchasers either opening businesses or leasing spaces. (Dan McGarvey/CBC) Some business owners at New Horizon are happy to secure their spot on the ground floor of what they believe will be something special, while others are worried and frustrated about a glaring and costly lack of activity and an occupancy rate of just over two per cent more than five months after the first store opened its doors. "The people that opened first will be the winners," insists Swirsky. "I guess the world is divided into skeptics and optimists." "The people who are going to be the risk-takers, innovators and entrepreneurs are going to be rewarded big time," he said. "It may take less than two years, nobody can say for sure," he said. Every one of Swirsky's examples of why New Horizon will succeed involves the success of the Pacific Mall in Toronto, which opened 25 years ago. "I don't see any difference. Whatever happened at Pacific Mall is happening here. The only difference is the weather," said Stephen Wong, founder of Living Realty, who sold all of the stores at Pacific Mall back in the 1990s. But the profile of the purchasers and stores in Toronto was different, being almost exclusively Chinese Canadian, along with the two cities' vastly different populations and ethnic makeup. Stephen Wong sold all of the units at Toronto’s Pacific Mall, which New Horizon was modelled on. He says that took a couple of years to get going and he expects the same for the Calgary version, which sits just south of CrossIron Mills, north of the city. (Dan McGarvey/CBC) Wong says stores that sold at Pacific Mall for $55,000 in 1993 sold for more than $480,000 in 2018. "It started out slowly but took about two years to rent out the whole mall," said Wong. "The last 25 per cent took the most time," he added. "Out of 500 unit owners at New Horizon, we know about half intended to rent it out, and who knows, the other half who haven't been in touch with us they may be opening up a store themselves," said Wong, adding he wouldn't expect owners to try and flip their units until they could make a profit. "That's the not the real estate play," he said. "They stay there 25 years and make lots of money." New Horizon is now offering owners a $5,000 incentive to open and lease their units before Dec. 31, 2018. The mall is also trying to attract cultural events and festivals to bring people through the doors and onto its entertainment stage at the centre of the mall. The next event is a fall and Halloween festival on Oct. 27, which was supposed to have been the mall's grand opening.<doc-sep>Article content The developer of a nearly empty new mall just north of Calgary says he’s confident it will become the bustling Asian-style bazaar it is meant to be despite having to delay its late-October grand opening until sometime next year. Only nine of 517 retail spaces in New Horizon Mall have opened for business since owners were allowed to take possession in May, said Eli Swirsky, president of The Torgan Group of Toronto. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Eerily empty New Horizon Mall delays grand opening Back to video “I love the mall. I think the mall will be fine,” he said in an interview. “I wish it was faster, of course, but every time I go there I’m awed by its size and potential and I think we’ll get there. “I’m not at all giving up. I think everyone will be happy.” He said he expects there to be 20 stores open by the end of September but wouldn’t commit to a grand opening date, saying it will be set when a “critical mass” of 80 to 100 stores are open, possibly by year-end but more likely next spring. The optimistic outlook stands in contrast to the eerily empty glass cubicles and “For Lease” signs in the freshly painted mall located south of the always-crowded CrossIron Mills outlet shopping centre that opened in 2009.<doc-sep>
Send this page to someone via email The New Horizon Mall near Balzac has been opened since the summer but as of Thursday, only 11 shops have opened. Owners of Eye Optix, which has only been open for a week, said traffic has been slow and quiet. “Maybe a dozen people a day come through here. On weekends it is a lot busier but again, it’s kind of quiet,” owner Adrian Wong said. “It is a new mall, we expected it to be slow. We’re riding it. We’re giving it a year and then we’ll see,” he said. Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It is a new mall, we expected it to be slow. We're riding it. We're giving it a year and then we'll see," he said. He, like other shop owners, are trying to remain optimistic. The 320,000 square foot megamall is modelled after the wildly successful Pacific Mall in Toronto. Retail shops are individually owned – much like a condo – and are individually leased. Story continues below advertisement Other retailers like Printgenic, a printing shop, are also banking on an increase in shops opening, which they hope will drive up sales in return. “We’re very happy. It just worked out that If we open at the mall, we’ll benefit from foot traffic rather than being in an enclosed office,” Mirza Tahir said. While the cavernous mall remains largely empty and quiet, developers insist it’s all part of the process. “When I look at what happened at Pacific Mall (in Toronto) — which is the mode this is fashioned on — it took 18 months to be major occupancy, which is 75 per cent, but it took two years,” The Torgan Group president Eli Swirsky said. View image in full screen Silk Road (pictured) is one of 11 shops that have opened since the summer. Dani Lantela / Global News Swirsky claims a total of 39 stores are expected to open in the coming weeks. He lamented the real estate game is a waiting one. Story continues below advertisement “You don’t buy real estate for today, you buy real estate for tomorrow,” Swirsky said. “This is going to be more successful than Pacific mall.”