In the 1950s Voisin Developments Limited was the largest house builder in the Kitchener-Waterloo Region.  In 1958, president and founder of Voisin Developments Limited, Frank Voisin, acquired the farm land at the corner of what is now Fischer Hallman Road and Ottawa Street South.  At the time the farm was purchased, there was no expressway and residential development surrounding the area was a long way away.   Land for the expressway and the Hydro corridor were carved out of the farm and when the Ministry of Transportation constructed the expressway and the clover leaf in 1968, Frank knew his property had the potential to be something big.

Beginning in the early 1970s through 2005 residential development proceeded around the farm land.  In 1985 Voisin Developments Limited began efforts to re-zone the farm for its present commercial use.  The City of Kitchener allowed for some commercial uses but insufficient to justify a power centre.  In the late 1990s, new efforts were used to convince the City to expand zoning uses allowed for the present development, now known as Sunrise Shopping Centre.  With 38 stores, Sunrise sits on approximately 50 acres of land, offering more than 500,000 square feet of retail shopping.  Its first store opened in September 2003 and by the spring of 2005 all stores at Sunrise were operating and open for business.