Capital boom keeps going
WAYNE THIBODEAU
The Guardian
A $9-million dollar office tower is set to be built in the very heart of downtown Charlottetown, continuing the building boom in the capital city.
The three-storey office complex will be home to AIM/Trimark, The Guardian has learned.
The Charlottetown Area Development Corporation will construct the building and lease it back to the investment management company.
It will be built on Euston Street between University Avenue, Queen Street and Chestnut Street.
The 45,000-square-foot building will be built behind the City Shell station.
Existing businesses including Eastern Auto, the Home Brew Shoppe, Discount Car and Truck Rentals and a four-unit apartment complex will be relocated. The car rental company is expected to rent a small corner in the new building once it’s completed.
Kwik Kopy will also stay on the block.
Construction is expected to begin this spring.
Les Parsons, general manager of the Charlottetown Area Development Corporation, said the building, along with others in the neighbourhood, are going to redefine the city’s downtown core.
He compared it to when Veterans Affairs relocated to Charlottetown in the early 1980s.
“Now, all of a sudden you’re seeing some growth in the marketplace,’’ said Parsons.
“You’ve got some pretty significant movement.’’
Parsons would not confirm that AIM/Trimark is the tenant, but a senior government official confirmed the Toronto-based company would be calling the new building home.
A contract still has to be signed with AIM/Trimark.
“We still don’t have a signed lease,’’ Parsons added.
The new building will further expand the capital city’s downtown core.
Across the street is the new federal building, where hundreds of federal government workers will be moved in late summer.
Nearby is also the Atlantic Technology Centre with 450 people working in that building.
Ceridian Canada, which announced in January it was establishing a centre of excellence in the city’s downtown, is also looking for office space downtown.
More than 100 people will be working for that company once it has reached its peak employment.
Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee said his city is catching the eye of big city business leaders.
“It’s a small city, offering a great quality of life,’’ said Lee.
“But at the same time we offer all the big city services like larger centres in Toronto and Montreal.’’
But Lee said the work will continue. He said he wants more national and international firms to call Charlottetown home.
Lee is confident Ceridian will locate its new office in the downtown.
An official announcement regarding AIM/Trimark’s new office complex is expected within weeks.
Funding is expected from both the federal and provincial governments, but how much is not known at this point.
Parsons said with nearly 1,500 workers in the neighbourhood with the new federal and provincial buildings and with companies like AIM/Trimark it should spawn new private investment in the area.
“It’s bound to drive new business.’’
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=18839&sc=98