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Engle Business District sells out
Subdivision expanding in response to what Chambers of Commerce say is positive sign for economy

Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Friday, October 14, 2016

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Engle Business District, the industrial park west of the airport, is officially no longer on the market. The last lot in Phase 1 of the project sold in July.

But that doesn't mean businesses looking to buy are late to the party - Yellowknife's director of planning and development Jeff Humble says Phases 2 and 3 of the project would greatly expand on Phase 1.

"We haven't laid it out completely ... we have at least I would say double what we have in Phase 1 in terms of remaining land to develop," said Humble.

He says the next step is to develop the concept, and then present it to city council. Humble added his department has some requests coming to council in the "very near future," with a memo to council as early as November.

Phase 1 included 36 lots, ranging between one and three acres, located on the Deh Cho Boulevard. "The total value is just under $12 million," said Humble.

That money he says goes to Yellowknife's land development fund, a standalone pot of money the city uses to reinvest in other development opportunities.

"Thirty per cent of that is now targeted towards revitalization initiatives, like the downtown, for example," he said.

The other 70 per cent goes towards what Humble said are calls "greenfield initiatives," or residential subdivisions.

According to both the NWT Chamber of Commerce and the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, the high demand for lots in Engle Business District is a positive sign.

"Clearly there's interest from commercial enterprises to be resident in that district, and perhaps that's the canary in the coal mine that people have purchased property there because they have confidence in the economy going forward," said Richard Morland, president of the NWT Chamber of Commerce.

Deneen Everett, executive director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, agrees.

"We're optimistic about the economic impact that this project and many others will have on Yellowknife," she said.

This is a turnaround from a previous report from the NWT Chamber of Commerce, which found 65.38 per cent of members polled believed the NWT economy would decline over the next year, with another 52.88 per cent believing the economy would continue to decline into 2019.

The businesses moving into the new subdivision are mostly heavy industry, including trucking, businesses relating to fuel and large storage.

"With the new mining opportunities and things opening up, there's some opportunities I think for some broader contracts, and certainly having some staging opportunities here in Yellowknife probably provides some companies with some advantages," said Humble.

And, he said, they are "predominantly Northern" businesses.

Some have previously been based in other areas of the city, and are taking advantage of extended industrial relocation incentives, which include a declining seven-year property tax abatement, to make the move to Engle.

"It's not just Old Airport Road, it's Kam Lake, it's Old Town, it's downtown, it's parts of the city that are transforming. From a redevelopment perspective ... the character of the neighbourhood is changing," said Humble, adding his department is supportive of some of these neighbourhoods becoming more "mixed use."

But what's driving the expansion into the next two phases isn't necessarily Northern businesses.

In September, Calgary-based Enerchem International Inc. was the first to get council approval for a lease in Phase 2, purchased in advance of the actual development.

"We do have some more requests coming to council here in the very near future, and if those requests go forward and council decides to offer similar opportunities to what we offered Enerchem, we're probably going to see development even over the winter," said Humble.

An influx of out-of-territory business might be a good thing, agree both Chambers of Commerce - as long as the focus remains on keeping cash in the NWT.

"Certainly if there's demand for Yellowknife businesses and for Northern businesses, we should be focusing our attention there, however I think we need to be sending a message that Yellowknife is open for business, which includes providing land for southern business that want to expand into the Yellowknife and Northern markets," said Everett.

Morland says focusing just on Northern business might be a mistake.

"Restricting ourselves to Northern businesses has us playing a smaller game than we're capable of," he said.

"I don't care where they come from as long as they're resident here and they provide benefits to us here. What we want to ensure is that when those businesses set up here, the benefits they provide stay in the North."

The city will hold a public hearing on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. to hear submissions on changes to a bylaw to amend zoning for Phases 2 and 3 of Engle Business District.

NNSL photo/graphic

Phase 1 of the Engle Business District has sold out, with Phase 2 and Phase 3 already in the works. - map courtesy of City of Yellowknife

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