Industrial land in the Airport Industrial Business Park in North Bay has become a popular commodity recently.
Within the past year, the area has seen two major announcements relating to news businesses in the industrial park.
Last September an international meatpacking company broke ground and then at city council on Tuesday the city announced that another international company based in South Africa is looking at final approval to build a mining-related galvanizing plant in the area.
See related: Mining company expecting to build plant in Airport Industrial Park
See related: Meat processing facility to open in North Bay
North Bay Mayor Al McDonald says there is a very good reason for that.
“If you look at service industrial land you just cannot find that anywhere that is price competitive so what you are seeing in the GTA in that area is getting so expensive that people need to look outside that area and we have the lowest industrial tax ratios in the province but that is not enough to draw people here,” said McDonald.
“The service industrial land around an airport absolutely helps but I think the whole pro-business, pro-investment of city council and city staff. Not just us but our city partners, I think we are all aligned.
McDonald believes cost and proximity are key.
“There is no question affordability and we are not completely central, we are not beside Toronto but at least we are on 11-17 crossroads to all points in Canada and we are 12 hours from 150 million people in the eastern seaboard,” he added.
