Stores at the Tsawwassen First Nation’s rapidly developing megamalls are expected to start opening as soon as May, with a full opening of the massive shopping complex scheduled for this fall. Numbers are staggering for the development along Highway 17 near the BC Ferries terminal.

There will be 1.8 million square feet for retail, office, entertainment and other uses. Tsawwassen Mills will take up about two-thirds of that with the remainder occupied by Tsawwassen Commons.

The developments are bringing many opportunities to Tsawwassen members, according to Tanya Corbet of the TFN Economic Development Corporation. One is for artists who have been contracted to add a cultural component to the otherwise contemporary facility.

TFN-EDC chief executive Chris Hartman said a number of the nation’s artists are working on pieces that will be made commercial scale for the facility’s floors, ceilings, benches and more. “For example there will be a piece of weaving, there will be a storytelling on that weaving and then on the roof will be [a depiction of] the weaving,” he said.

The entire mall projects, when complete, is also expected to create about 3,000 full-time and part-time jobs. Thousands more were created during construction.