In under five years, the population of the City of Winnipeg has grown by over 71,000 and is expected to reach 854,100 this year. Some new residents are recent immigrants to Canada, while others are coming from other provinces to Winnipeg for its many amenities and rich quality of life. No matter where they come from, they all need a place to live, and that’s where Progressive Real Estate enters the picture.
Led by company President Geoff Milnes, Progressive Real Estate is unlike others in the city’s growing real estate sector. Instead of working in just one segment of the industry, Progressive operates as a developer, general contractor, and property manager. By providing all these services with the utmost professionalism, Progressive creates high-quality multi-family apartment units, commercial spaces, and recently, sizable standalone bungalows catering to clients who want to age in place.
Winnipeg: city on the grow
In the past year alone, the Progressive Real Estate team has increased from 17 to 25 individuals, much of this growth owing to additional work on the development side of the business. A believer in strong yet sensible growth, Milnes welcomes new employees as demand for Progressive’s services increases. “We went full steam ahead into 2025,” he says. “We had a great 2024, but I knew 2025 was going to be great.”
The company has come a long way since it was founded 15 years ago. Prior to launching Progressive Real Estate, Milnes served as a General Manager at Student Works West, and later Business Manager at Acklands-Grainger, where he handled several high-profile clients. By buying, renovating, and selling houses, he kept building his knowledge of the housing market, in time becoming owner and co-founder of InsideOut Painting. A born entrepreneur, one of his goals is “to make Winnipeg a better place to live for generations to come.”
To date, Progressive Real Estate has completed 18 developments featuring 595 units, with another 15 developments in the pipeline representing over 650 new residential units. Much of the company’s success comes from Progressive’s early adoption of a “one-stop solution approach.” When the company first got into developing, other developers were building condos—which was a great way to start, since companies created the buildings, sold them, recapitalized, and repeated the process. However, this method has its limitations.
“It builds up the war chest for apartments you are ultimately going to keep,” Milnes explains, “but our strategy has been different from day one. We’ve really been focused on purpose-built rentals and have only built a handful of condos during our 15 years. Over time, we have really refined our system, which is quite amazing. We build an excellent product for a good value.” This means high-quality materials inside and out, including unique exterior elements such as custom lighting themes.
“We truly believe in our system, keep refining it, and build a really nice product,” says Milnes, explaining that Progressive’s aim isn’t simply to build an apartment solely to sell it. The attention to quality and detail sets the company apart. “If you’re the owner, the level of care is that much greater,” he says. “For us, we are the owner, the builder, the developer, and the property manager in the end, so that level of care and control transcends through all of that. It makes for better design decisions at the outset, and ultimately an easier product to manage later on.”
Using dimensional lumber and metal components as necessary, Progressive focuses on wood-frame construction. Once limited to four storeys, the company can today build up to six storeys since Manitoba adopted the 2020 National Building Code. “We actually built the first six-storey wood frame building here in Winnipeg, adopting that new code,” says Milnes. “Today, we are building buildings between four and six storeys out of wood, depending on what height is approved by the Council.”
Quality projects
Always mindful of its environmental impact, Progressive places a high value on operating sustainably. Every Progressive building exceeds basic energy code requirements by 25 percent, and the company has been recognized for energy efficiency by Crown corporation Efficiency Manitoba. All apartment complexes feature electric vehicle chargers, while the company’s Parkview Terrace project is the province’s first apartment complex outfitted with solar panels. Other key features of the company’s work include noise control and fire separations.
It can take a while to get shovels into the ground for new developments, which is why Progressive plans well in advance and works on several stages at the same time. This year, the company completed Phase 4 of the Parkview Terrace project. “Previously, we were just doing one phase at a time—one building, then start the next,” shares Milnes.
Located at 1976-1982 St. Mary’s Rd., Parkview Terrace is next to Henteleff Park in South St. Vital. Consisting of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, the project will see seven phases in total. Its many amenities include a fitness centre, a coffee bar, a multi-purpose room, and an on-site car wash, while all suites have upgraded finishes, in-suite laundry, and much more. With Phase 4 completed, the company overlapped construction of Phases 5 and 6. Once all phases are completed, Parkview Terrace will have about 400 units. “Phases 5 and 6 are 100 units in themselves, so it’s really great to have that overlap now, where we’ve already got Phases 5 and 6 almost locked up before we head into winter,” Milnes adds. “We are very excited about that.”
At Parkview Terrace, there are 18 different unit styles, owing to the unique characteristics of each building. Units range from approximately 500 square feet for a smaller one-bedroom to three-bedroom units of around 1,300 square feet. “That’s almost a house inside an apartment building, when you think about it,” says Milnes of the larger units, which feature formal dining rooms, large kitchens, and wrap-around balconies. Some renters may be downsizing from large family homes and still want to have space for a guest room and a home office, and Progressive’s offerings do the trick.
Along with Parkview Terrace, the team is busy with other projects, including 1131 Nairn. Slated for early 2027, 1131 Nairn—known as Inverness Lofts as a nod to the Scottish Highlands—will be an infill development project replacing a vacant lot in East Elmwood. Adjacent to a future rapid transit line, this one-building, 99-unit site will offer luxurious one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments complete with modern appliances, high-end finishes, balconies, and other amenities in units filled with natural light. Shared areas include a sauna, yoga studio and fitness centre, conference room, and more, while the main floor will have three leasable commercial spaces.
Set for completion at the end of 2026 is the yet-unnamed 1380 Ravelston development. The team is about to break ground on the site for a project comprising 72 units across three buildings of three-and-a-half storeys and one two-and-a-half-storey building. Some of the project’s unique features include exterior entrances and staircases. “Every square foot we build is rentable space,” says Milnes of this work, which will be completed fairly quickly since there are no elevators, circulation hallways, or underground parking.
Stacked townhouses are another ideal option to meet the demand in Winnipeg’s rental market, with every square foot being leasable or saleable space. “That’s a product that will be in high demand,” predicts Milnes. “I’m seeing that market change, and I want to react to it.”
The company is also working on Oakdale Estates in Charleswood. Set to open next summer, all four bungalow-style condos are sold out. Three different floor plans were created, meeting the needs of all buyers. “All told—in terms of housing starts this year—we’ve done about 320 units, and that’s over two-and-a-half times what we’ve done in past years.”
Oakdale Estates marks a departure for Progressive Real Estate, which is still focused on its core builds, namely four- to six-storey wood frame apartment buildings. In the future, the company will continue adding bungalows to its offerings. Milnes’ parents are in their 70s, and he says, “I want to build more of that kind of product for people like my parents who are aging in place,” where someone else cuts the grass and shovels the snow.
Progressive was recently approved for another Winnipeg project of 14 semi-detached bungalow townhouses. “I think that’s a product that’s very high in demand and should fly off the shelves,” says Milnes. To be priced at around $575,000, these 1,300-square-foot homes will be ideal for empty nesters, offering two bedrooms, a den, main floor laundry, and a double garage. Depending on how the project goes, Progressive is also eyeing another eight-acre site north of Winnipeg, which would be well-suited for 50 bungalows.
Welcoming growth
Milnes has considered expanding into Calgary, where he is from. It would require building new relationships with tradespeople and becoming familiar with local bylaws. In Winnipeg, the demand for Progressive’s products is exceptional, with vacancy rates staying below two percent. “I’m really happy with the growth we’ve attained over the last 12 months,” he says. “I’d like to see us maintain that growth and be a company that builds over 300 apartments or units every year of some sort of housing type, whether it’s bungalows, apartments, or townhouses—300-plus units a year. That’s a sustainable level I’d like to see us at,” he says.
“In a year’s time, I’d like to see us be successful with our projects and have the same team with one or two more positions filled, depending on need. I really am pleased with how 2025 has gone, and for the most part would like to keep building at that level.”
