Black Box Commercial Condos under construction in Moosomin
June 29, 2026, 9:07 am
Ashley Bochek, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Black Box Commercial Condos by South Prairie Properties is under construction south of Skout Brewing and east of Rocky Mountain Equipment in Moosomin.
Jay Hamilton of South Prairie Properties spoke at the Moosomin Chamber of Commerce meeting on Monday about the new development.
“South Prairie Properties is a newer company, and our mission is to strengthen the community by creating locally owned—which is key—locally owned real estate. It’s high-quality commercial and residential real estate that supports local business, attracts new investment, and provides opportunities for people and companies to grow.”
Hamilton explains the purpose of Black Box in Moosomin.
“Many local businesses have outgrown their garage, shop, basements, farm office, rented space, but building a stand-alone commercial building often isn’t financially practical, and it can be quite complex. Black Box was designed to bridge that gap.
“It provides turnkey solutions for entrepreneurs, professionals, and companies looking to establish a presence in Moosomin without the time, complexity, and cost of developing a commercial property from scratch.”
Turnkey units
Hamilton says Black Box condos will offer a turnkey opportunity for individuals and businesses in the area.
“These units are individually titled commercial condos. They’re fully serviced with their own water, sewer, natural gas, and electrical service. Everybody gets their own meters and their own accounts with utility companies. They’re designed for business ownership or personal use. It’s titled as a standalone building, you can sell it later, you can rent it later, you can get a mortgage on the unit, and most importantly, you can build equity, your building now works for you as a solid real estate investment, instead of renting as an alternative. These buildings are built to commercial spec. The construction is equal or better than many conventional commercial buildings.
“One misconception by the overall look and size of the building is that they’re just simple shops or pole sheds, they’re definitely not, we have full ICF foundations, we have two by eight exterior walls, we got engineered structure to full commercial specs, fully insulated, fully finished, independent utilities, and commercial code compliant—they’re not just storage. The units have full commercial approval which leads to a wider variety of uses, it could be anything from contractor shops and offices, warehousing, distribution, professional offices, retail, e-commerce, and light manufacturing service businesses.”
He says there is a similar design to Black Box in a project east of Regina.
“There’s a similar development in Emerald Park, and a couple real-world examples from some of the tenants and owners that they have in there are appliance repair service, there’s a foam jacking company that levels concrete slabs, there’s a geologist lab, an office flooring retailer, custom railing fabricator, PVC fence company and windshield replacement, and a bit of a unique one that we’ve kind of been diving into lately is a vertical hydroponic farm. We’re just in the research stage with that concept, but we might be planning for some indoor farming in one of those units, which is really catching on in Alberta in very similar styled units.”
Commercial Condo benefits
Hamilton says commercial space can help ease costs compared to a standalone building.
“You get to own commercial space while avoiding many of the costs and responsibilities of a standalone building. You can rent a space, but in that case you have no equity and you’re subject to rent increases controlled by the landlord. Or you can build your own extremely expensive, time consuming building, and then you have to deal with the operation maintenance of the building. Or option three, you can own a Black Box with lower cost of acquisition, you get equity, shared operating expenses, professional appearance, low maintenance, and it’s quick turnkey ownership at a significantly lower cost than building independent as well.
“We’ve had lots of questions from people thinking that it might possibly be cheaper just to build your own standalone building on a separate piece of land. We did a straight apples-to-apples comparison of a 28 by 60 commercial unit, finished exactly how ours are to the same spec, and our units are roughly $92,000 cheaper than the standalone option, that’s about a 20 per cent lower cost of purchase than building one yourself because we have shared walls, shared servicing, shared land, and the number one reason is that we have economies of scale.”
Hamilton explains, “We’re building so many at one time that it’s cheaper and more efficient. Worry-free ownership on these units, that’s another huge goal for businesses. You can focus on running your business instead of maintaining a commercial property that’s covered in your condo fee, which includes exterior maintenance, snow removal, landscape, general insurance, garbage, security cameras, pest control, and parking lot maintenance. With economies of scale, these services that are included in your condo fee are actually substantially cheaper than what you could hire these services for in an independent property.”
South Prairie Properties Goal
Hamilton says South Prairie Properties hopes to develop and create more affordable options for entrepreneurs in the area.
“We want to create an affordable pathway for local entrepreneurs and businesses to own commercial real estate right here in Moosomin. We’re creating affordable ownership opportunities for business space, for local businesses to grow, space for startups, space for companies to expand to Moosomin, and new commercial tax base. We want to give business owners an opportunity that traditionally hasn’t existed in communities of our size.
“Instead of renting forever, or spending hundreds of thousands more on standalone buildings, business owners can own a modern commercial space that’s affordable, flexible, professionally managed, and designed for growth.”
He said they have had many inquiries about the commercial condo units so far.
“We’ve got lots of inquiries. We’re just paused right now on the pre-sales until we get a little bit of traction on the actual construction. I want people to be able to see the development and the features and get inside the space, and I think once people see it start taking shape, I’m hoping it’ll be a big success.”
Hamilton adds South Prairie Properties is developing another sixplex on west Broadway. “We have another six unit apartment we’re putting together this summer as well.”
