A joint venture involving five partners developing The Shoppes at Heritage, a 250,000-square-foot retail centre in suburban Windsor, Ont., just might be the beneficiary of a "right place, right time," situation.

McDonald’s and Tim Hortons outlets will open before the end of this year to kick off the first phase of shopping centre in the suburban Windsor community of LaSalle. 

When both development phases in the Essex County town of more than 30,000 people are completed by the project’s local partners, they’ll offer 250,000 square feet of commercial and hospitality space and create more than 400 jobs. It sits on a 24-acre property.

The partners in the development are: Petretta Construction Inc. owners Davide Petretta and Jonathon Lot; The D’Amore Group president Scott D’Amore; ShipNerd co-founder Asaf Klein; and Preferred Restorations (Windsor) Ltd. president Mike Touma.

Petretta has been an active developer in the area and its principals first partnered with D’Amore and Klein when the company built condominiums on land owned by the two men. 

They also owned a property at the corner of Heritage Drive and Sandwich West Parkway, across from the 207,000-square-foot Windsor Crossing Premium Outlet, which they thought would be a great place for a commercial development.

“Scott had a contact at Metro, and they had some interest, so he said, ‘Would you guys want to not only build it for us, but become development partners with us and help us stickhandle the whole entitlement process?,’” Lot told RENX. “So that's what we've done.”

The development and leasing process

There hasn’t been a lot of new retail development in Canada in recent years, partly due to cost. Lot said they first underwrote the LaSalle deal when construction costs were at record highs and interest rates had skyrocketed, but they decided to move forward anyway.

“It wasn't a home run, but we were like, ‘Let's do it. It's in our backyard. We have the land. We have interest,’” Lot explained. “It was basically the last piece of commercial retail land in LaSalle and it was a great opportunity to create a new little nucleus of retail development.”

Negotiations with Metro Inc. took quite a while, but the ball started rolling pretty quickly once the grocery store and pharmacy chain owner agreed to make Food Basics the anchor tenant of The Shoppes at Heritage. 

Dollarama, Shoppers Drug Mart, Pet Valu, McDonald’s, Tim Hortons, Taco Bell, Osmow’s Shawarma and dentists have all committed to the 19-acre, 150,000-square-foot, $125-million first phase -- which will also likely include a bank branch, among other tenants. 

“We are in the final stages of signing a lease with a national gas brand,” Lot said, adding one more essential-services type of retailer to the mix. “So there's going to be a gas bar, a convenience store, a car wash and one of the national lube shops in this phase as well.”

More than 70 per cent of the available space has been leased or is involved in lease negotiations.

“As we were going through the lease-up process, the construction market started slowing down a bit so we were getting more competitive pricing and pricing was coming down,” Lot said. “Construction and interest rates were starting to go down as well, so it was just one of those right place, right time things.”

How the partnership works

The partners are contributing equity for the development while WFCU Credit Union is providing financing.

“Asaf and Scott have been handling a majority of the lease negotiations and more of the legal aspects, as well as planning for future property maintenance once the buildings are built and up and running,” Lot explained. “I've been spearheading the majority of construction-related work.”

Touma doesn’t have much day-to-day operational involvement while Lot said Petretta has acted as a “gatekeeper” responsible for securing financing. 

“That’s not an easy task, especially with lenders these days making you jump through hoops,” Lot observed. 

The development’s two phases

The seven-pad first phase is under construction, with the Food Basics and Tim Hortons buildings being built by outside contractors and Petretta handling the rest. 

LaSalle’s first McDonald’s is expected to open in late October, with Tim Hortons to follow later this year and the remaining stores to launch late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2026.

The second five-acre phase is in the early planning stages and is expected to include a dual-branded hotel and more retail pads.

“We're currently working with two worldwide hotel brands and waiting for term sheets from them to go through and evaluate and then determine which brand we're going to proceed with,” Lot said. “From there, we’ll start the planning process.”

Petretta built the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Windsor East and is constructing a Marriott TownPlace Suites in nearby Tecumseh.

The goal is to break ground for the second phase at Heritage in early 2027.

“We're hopeful that adding a hotel is going to draw a stand-alone restaurant and some extra retail that complements the hotel,” Lot said. 

LaSalle is growing despite caution in Windsor

There’s been extensive residential development in the area, including detached and semi-detached houses and several condominiums and apartment buildings, which should boost the customer base for The Shoppes at Heritage in the manufacturing-reliant region.

“Windsor is experiencing a bit of a pause right now because of the uncertainty over tariffs,” Lot said. “When automakers aren't doing much because they're waiting to see what happens with the tariffs, they're not calling on the suppliers and the tool and die shops to provide them with the tools or the parts that are needed.”

While Lot described the current national retail environment as cautious, which has combined with local tariff and economic concerns to cause leasing to slow a bit, he said people and businesses aren’t afraid and aren’t bailing from the Windsor area.

“I think it's going to come back around in the next couple of months but, even with that, every couple of weeks we're still getting a new offer to lease some vacant space in the buildings,” Lot said.