New development for business park
Parsons Investments Ltd. purchases property but is mum on plans for the site
NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — A new business is coming to Pictou County, but what exactly that business is, is being kept a secret for now. The property located in the East River Business Park off East River Road was sold for $143,748 to Parsons Investments Ltd., according to property information available online. The two-acre lot has a commercial assessment of $338,000. A representative of Parsons Investments Ltd. declined to comment on the company’s plans for the lots, but machinery has been busy on site this week spreading loads of ground that’s been trucked to the site. Parsons Investments Ltd. is headquartered in Kingston, N.S. According to the company’s website, Parsons Investments has been developing properties across Nova Scotia for more than 50 years and has a portfolio of over 600,000 square feet of commercial space and over 200 residential units. “It’s been a long time coming,” New Scotland Business Development Inc. director Andy Thompson said of the property sale. New Scotland Business Development Inc. manages East River Business Park, which is jointly owned by the Municipality of Pictou County and Town of New Glasgow. While he wouldn’t confirm what the business locating on the site will be, Thompson said it will be a new business to the county as opposed to one relocating, and he believes it will be well received by residents. “Whenever they decide they’re ready to announce, it will be an announcement I think everyone in Pictou County should be happy with.” The business park was first started in 2014 and while there has been ongoing interest by various parties, it’s taken time for the first deal to come to fruition. “These are long sales processes,” Thompson said. “We’re asking someone to invest millions of dollars in Pictou County, so it takes time.” In the years since the park was first started, New Glasgow and the Municipality of Pictou County have been active installing the basic infrastructure such as sewer, water, internet and electricity. The next big step will be to finalize an entrance off East River Road. “We’re working on that and we hope to be able to announce a solution in the coming months,” Thompson said. Thompson believes the potential is huge for the park, particularly now with the first new business in. The county is also in the process of annexing a portion of the land from New Glasgow so that they can have a consistent tax rate in the park. “We’ll have the lowest commercial tax rate in the area for serviced industrial land which is an attractive feature for a lot of people,” he said.