Winnipeg-based call centre opening new location in old Polo Park Target location
A third business has announced it will open in the former Target location near Polo Park Shopping Centre.
The Winnipeg-based call centre 24-7 Intouch will open its fourth location in the city in the now-vacant 140,000-square-foot building on St. James Street, which will be subdivided into three spaces. One of those spaces will include a 47,000-square-foot Winners and HomeSense combo store.
A third 40,000-square-foot space remains to be filled.
The call-centre business has close to 6,000 employees in 14 locations around the world, including in the U.S., Guatemala, Jamaica, and the Philippines, 24-7 Intouch said in a news release.
"Winnipeg is our home, and we are very excited to be a part of the growing business community at Polo Park," CEO Greg Fettes said in the release.
The company already has Winnipeg locations on Taylor Avenue, Waverley Street and Kennedy Street. The company expects its new 55,000-square-foot space to eventually hold around 500 employees.
The building on the old Canad Inns Stadium site has sat empty for nearly three years after Target Corp. announced it was shutting the store down, just months after it opened to the public.
The U.S. retailer pulled out of the Canadian market after suffering nearly $1 billion in losses during its first year in Canada.
Last fall, the City of Winnipeg approved a request by owners Shindico and Cadillac Fairview to divide the building into three sections and develop a 3,900-square-foot lobby connecting two of the spaces.
Shindico vice-president for legal affairs Justin Zarnowski says the company is excited to have tenants confirmed for most of the space at the site.
"This is a big step for our development. It allows us to keep the momentum going that we have here to hopefully fill out the last space that we still have for have lease at the Target building, and now to get really rolling on the rest of the site."
Zarnowski says construction has already begun on the 24-7 Intouch space, which the company expects to have open by mid-2018.
