October 21, 2002
www.BruceInvest.com is designed to showcase land & building site availability and the competitive advantages that Bruce County possesses for business attraction & retention purposes. This site represents a significant development toward positioning Bruce County as an investment ready community.
The growing demand for site location research capacity via the Internet prompted Bruce CFDC to embark upon the development of a Bruce County database of industrial properties for rent, lease or purchase. The creation of www.BruceInvest.com was completed in the summer of 2001 with on-line activation in the fall of 2001. Currently, this site not only profiles industrial properties available throughout Bruce County, but also provides demographics, property characteristics and key contacts relevant to site location decision processes. This tool is also designed as a business retention tool, offering confidential and easy access to local business and industry seeking relocation or expansion opportunities within their current sphere of operations.
The ability for the Bruce area to become more active profiling site selection opportunities has been enhanced using electronic-based resources. This new site is a major step toward expanding our presence and competitiveness to attract North American and global interest, as well as offering local industry current and timely access to information. Whereas, economic development tools such as this site are now industry norms for urban centres, BruceInvest.com represents one of a few such rural sites available in Ontario.
Early responses to BruceInvest.com have been encouraging. Since its launch, "hits" on the site have averaged 300 per month, with most registered from southern Ontario and the northern U.S states. Some calls have been fielded from site selectors working on behalf of industry, seeking additional information about the area.
Bruce CFDC sees the investment in this product as necessary to our economic diversification strategy. The Board also recognizes the potential of this product/service being a strategic marketing tool for our financial (loan) program and technical services.
A website work in progress:
This site will continue to expand and mature in its application. Initiatives are now underway to explore the application of this database framework and Internet presence to include commercial properties throughout the County. An underlying principle guiding future applications of this tool is that it will continue to incorporate both business attraction & retention components.
Under consideration is also the inclusion of businesses (or business assets) for sale. Given the demographics of business ownership and projected increase in businesses looking to sell, this tool will offer another avenue to assist with business succession issues – profiling business acquisition opportunities within the area to local entrepreneurs as well as the growing interest from the southern Ontario market looking to relocate to the area given a suitable business prospect.
Partners engaged in this initiative:
As a rural community (65,000 population) of eight small municipalities along a 150 km shoreline, it was recognized that a Countywide initiative was needed to compile an inventory for marketing purposes. It was also recognized that cooperation as a region would yield distinct advantages and cost efficiencies.
- Bruce County – with responsibility for planning and GIS development, Bruce County has provided technical consulting on database format design. BruceInvest has been developed to parallel GIS information requirements, allowing for possible transfer of this site into the GIS features or the ease of cross-referencing between this site and the future GIS framework.
- Municipalities – each municipality participated in the product development providing information to populate the database. A working sub-committee of municipal representatives has been established to help guide systems and protocols. The operating plan includes a designated municipal staff person responsible for monitoring and updating land & building information to maintain the currentness and accuracy of the site. Not only does BruceInvest link to municipal web home pages as well as Bruce CFDC, but BruceInvest is in process of being incorporated into each municipal web site as a link.
- PEMD-I - Industry Canada provided matching funds toward the development of the database. The application was approved on the basis of improving “investment readiness”.
- Private Sector – some properties have been listed on the site from developers or private property owners.
- Real Estate – discussion with the real estate board are pending to explore ways & means of coordinating, sharing or cross-referencing information.
- Web Master – Target Internet Development Corporation was contracted to do web design. They are also providing web hosting and maintenance services.
Portability:
This tool may be of interest to other CFDCs.
Summary:
As the local development and application of B2B unfolds, this new tool will offer a foundation for future development.