Mega sites sought to attract large plants

It’s a long-shot opportunity, but one you have to chase.

So local officials are compiling an inventory of so-called “unicorn sites,” massive properties that check all the shovel-ready boxes for mega-manufacturers. They have a March 31 deadline to submit the sites to the province’s Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Its Job Site Challenge wants to select several “mega sites” — between 500 and 1,500 acres in size — where automakers or other advanced manufacturers can build a large plant, “creating thousands of good-paying direct and supply-chain jobs.”

“I think the point is, to win the lottery you have to play,” Matt Johnson, director of business attraction for the Windsoressex Development Corp., said of the pursuit. “It would be a massive opportunity for the region.”

Johnson is currently working with local municipalities to find a few of these unicorn sites, properties (largely privately owned) where big manufacturers could set up fairly quickly. The idea is for Ontario to have this ready-to-go inventory to compete better with jurisdictions in the southern U.S., which have industrial land banks available for global companies looking to do foreign direct investment.

He said the province has said it’s looking for unicorn sites, not a “donkey with a horn.” A few local sites have been identified, though their locations aren’t being revealed to avoid land speculation.

“These are those perfect-fit sites that are either site-plan ready, have servicing or planned servicing, are zoned properly, have good access to highway connections, rail, air, port access,” as well as considerable size, with a single owner, Johnson said.

“As you can imagine, that’s pretty rare to find something of that size in Windsor-essex County, but we’re doing our work with the municipalities to identify where these sites could possibly fit,” he said. And if some sites are missing some requirements, officials are developing action plans to meet those requirements.

Tecumseh Mayor Gary Mcnamara said his municipality does have land that fits — 800 to 1,000 acres.

“I can’t tell you where it is, only

It’s looking for unicorn sites, not a ‘donkey with a horn.’

because we certainly don’t want land speculation and people buying up land, but we are in conversation with the development corporation and the province,” Mcnamara said Thursday. He said the land could be home to a mega employer, or to a number of smaller employers.

“It would be nice to hit a big home run, but you know what? You can win a lot of ball games with just some nice infield hits.”

In a statement announcing the Job Site Challenge in November, Minister Vic Fedeli said: “One of the biggest barriers that automakers face if they want to build or expand an auto-assembly plant is availability of large-scale sites.”

However, it looks like none are available within city limits.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said “from a city perspective, we don’t have 500 acres of site-plan ready land under single ownership,” though the province is already aware of the airport land that’s available — with some restrictions — for industrial development. He said improving the city’s inventory of large industrial land sites should be part of its long-term plan.

“It’s definitely a gap we should be looking to address as a city, but we don’t have it,” he said recently.

The development corporation’s Johnson said what the province wants to do is work with site selectors, specialized consultants who work globally to help companies choose a location, go into that area and build a manufacturing operation fairly quickly.

“Even if our sites don’t get picked … we’re going to market those sites out to site selectors on our own, to try to get more awareness and recognition that we’ve got really good developable land for companies.”

Even if the sites are not considered suitable for mega-manufacturers, they may be ideal for smaller plants, he said.

He said the province’s call-out for mega-sites is a great idea, modelled after programs in the U.S., but the land is just one factor in luring these companies. Others include financial incentives and training. An entire package is needed.

The government will be working with a site selector to choose the sites and market them, with the first shovel-ready sites ready for investors in the fall.