[Smevo]

Thursday, June 7, 2007 Cape Breton Post

New tenant in wings for vacant call centre

Province hopes to make announcement 'very soon'

Section: Business

By Nancy King,

A new tenant for a vacant call centre building is expected to be made "very soon," a spokesperson for the provincial agency that's been leading the search said Wednesday.

Sarah Levy of Nova Scotia Business Inc. added she couldn't provide a more specific time frame or give other details of the negotiations until they are completed.

"We're confident that we will be in a position to announce a new client very soon," she said.

EDS Canada recently wound up operations at its Port Hawkesbury call centre, after announcing last November it would shut it down, to concentrate on operations at its Sydney centre.

Bob MacEachern, president of the Strait Area Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday he is hopeful an announcement could come by the end of June.

"There's a lot of hope, especially for those who had worked at EDS and they're finding themselves without work right now," he said. "We have great concern for them that they get employed sooner rather than later; we don't want to see them leave the area, obviously."

The area's retailers have been affected by the loss of the payroll provided by EDS, MacEachern added.

In March, the chamber put out a call to people in the area with experience in the sector to develop a database of people qualified and available to do that sort or work. They also urged them to be patient and remain in the area.

Having a skilled, experienced, ready workforce was one reason why the chamber was confident a new tenant would be found, MacEachern said.

"We now have a track record based on the knowledge of the employees," he said.

The body wasn't worried that EDS's decision to leave the centre would hinder interest by other clients, MacEachern said.

The marketing effort for the location has also included the Strait-Highlands Regional Development Agency, Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. and the Nova Scotia Office of Economic Development.

The Port Hawkesbury call centre opened in November 2002, a year later than was originally expected. An expansion of the centre was announced in 2004.