Land sales at business park secure $1M for Chatham
Chatham-Kent has secured $1 million in land sales at the Bloomfield Business Park, with more than 200 future jobs expected to come along with it. Economic development services announced the sale of 26 acres of industrial land to two investors, according to a media release issued late last week.
Twenty acres have been sold to Lloyd Star Global Network for cold and dry storage facilities, while six acres have been sold to a Scottish whisky company for storage and packaging.
Both companies have signed binding agreements with the municipality and the deals are complete, officials stated. Stuart McFadden, acting economic development director, said in the release: “We have been actively marketing the Bloomfield property as an ideal location for new investment.”
He added: “A key component of our plan was to make a portion of the park an Ontario Investment Ready: Certified Site, which gives companies a shovel-ready advantage so they can purchase the land and begin development almost immediately.” Development of the Lloyd Star Global Network land is set to begin in the spring and will look to employ 200 people when completed.
For the spirits blending and packaging company, development is expected to occur within approximately 60 days. When construction is finished, the facility could employ 15 full-time staff. “Companies are choosing Chatham-Kent because they realize that they can be successful here thanks to proactive initiatives put in place to make our community ideal for investment,” said John Norton, general manager of community development.
“For example, we have created a selection of business parks with affordable land, outfitted that land with the infrastructure needed for development, and then put in place tax incentives that make Chatham-Kent the ideal place to build.”
The result of this sale will leave Bloomfield Business Park with 43 acres of land available for sale. This is down from the initial 105 acres of land when the park was formed.
“Between these new developments and the fact that IAT Global who is already in the Bloomfield Business Park, is also expanding and building, we are confident that we are poised to be in a position to fill the property in the foreseeable future,” McFadden added. “This is a great situation for the municipality as it means the potential for more community investment in housing, retail, increased tax assessment, and other economic spinoffs.”