Winkler building permit records could be smashed in 2018.

In MSTW planning district's first quarter report, the Pembina Valley is seeing huge gains in the first quarter with Winkler leading the pack, bolstered by major projects like the Pine Ridge School construction and the Canadian Tire expansion.

Winkler saw a whopping $33 million in permit value from January to March, up from nearly $3.5 million during the same period last year. However, MSTW General Manager Glen Wieler says even taking the $24 million school project, $1.7 million multi-family condo project and multi-million dollar Canadian Tire expansion into account, the community is still seeing close to $6 million in value of work and 45 permits, double last year's numbers at this time.

The Winkler Canadian Tire is doubling in size, expanding from 24,700 sq. ft. to over 41,000 sq. ft.

While permit numbers were down overall in the RM of Stanley dropping to just six from 22 last year, the $4.1 million Terrapoint Agribusiness Centre is boosting permit values to close to $5 million compared to $2.5 million in 2017. However, new single dwelling numbers are down from eight last year to just one in 2018 during the first quarter.

In Morden, permit numbers are up from 18 to 24, though values were down from $4.3 million to $1.8 million. Wieler explains numbers were higher than average last year thanks to a number of new multi-family construction.

"There's a lot of excitement, lots of optimism for the Pembina Valley," Wieler says, adding he expects more residential housing in new developments to ramp up as well as the weather warms up.

"It's an amazing start to the year already. We're thankful we live in an area where things are happening."

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New multi-family dwelling permits in Winkler are up this quarter as well

The first tenant in the 27,000 sq. ft. TerraPoint Agribusiness Centre is expected to move in this fall