Riverside Place Development Offers New Office Site Opportunities
by Scott A. Sumner
www.thunderbaybusiness.ca
For many years our company office was located on Barton Street fronting on Balmoral near William Street. This was a central location which we really enjoyed and now a local entrepreneur Ken Perrier, President of Riverside North Corporation and part owner of PerHol
Construction with Jim Hollinsworth, is providing a great opportunity to locate your office in this popular area at the corner of Balmoral and William Street.
Phase 1 of Riverside Place is a 10,500 square floor building which will be totally occupied on August 30th by Health Canada. “We have 5 acres in total with Riverside South being 3&1/2 acres and Riverside North 1&1/2 acres. Phase 2 of the development is a 12,000 square 2
storey office building to the west running parallel with William Street. The foundation is in place and we are in the design stage now and in negotiations with tenants,” said Ken Perrier, age 47. “This is probably the last new office space zoned in Thunder Bay. I don’t think there is any other area because they are pushing all the office space to the North and South cores. This it one of the few pieces of property left for new development. It is a nice location with the Balmoral Commons building across the road. You will have the water view once Riverside South is developed and the trees removed with a nice scenic look at the McIntyre River. People are anxious to move here and we have lots of interest in Phase 2. I can see in the next 2
years, Phase 3 and 4 going ahead. We have the area there to construct another 50,000 square feet of building. It will view the water and golf course across the river. We will do it in phased construction because 50,000 square feet is a lot to fill in one shot.”
You can be any kind of professional service and locate your office at Riverside. It is zoned for doctors, dentists, a clinic, lawyers, accountants or even a restaurant. Perrier thinks the site is a great location with the college down the road and the Harbour Expressway and Arthur Streets not too far away with good movement for people to come and go and with lots of on site parking.
The building is a slab on grade with a pre engineered Butler structure. The wall panel exterior is an insulated sandwich panel that has prefinished stucco panels. “When we stand the wall panel it is completed finished and you don’t have to touch it again.
There are insulated vapor barriers on the inside which are ready for drywall insulation. Basically you are going around the building once instead of in standard construction when you need to travel 4 times around the building to finish it. The roof on top in a TPO Firestone
product with a R 60 value sloped to drain to catch culverts at the front. There is a walking and bike path at the front of the building and part of our site plan agreement is extend the bike and walking path up William Street to the end of our entrance so it will end on the west property,” said Perrier. “Inside is drywall finish with a T bar ceiling at 9 foot 6 inch height and a state of the art heating and cooling system with in slab heat to maintain a constant floor temperature. There are 4 roof top units for heating and AC and humidification in the building so it is very much a state of the art HVAC system. I’d say for a climactically control building it will be
state of the art.” In the building there is a reception area which is tiled, mobile shelving units in the storage rooms, some meeting rooms, lunch room, IT office and one office for the manager The rest of the building is 55 service cubes for the employees and the services they offer.
“We had to meet a spec in the tender package and developed a lease rate. The tender closed in September and we waited for an award in the beginning on November. In November we cleared the site, continued design and got in the ground in early May with the building permit near the end of May when we started to pour concrete,” said Perrier.
“The project went very well and quickly. It was very fast tracked as we had a date of August 30th for occupancy. It has been a little bit hectic but we worked with great trades on the project and everyone pitched in and did what they had to do to make it work. There were a few long nights but I am sure the tenant will be very happy in the brand new facility. In the next short period we will start to clear the drive to the lot on the river so people can get a feel for what
they are going to see if they locate here. We will clean up the underbrush as well.”
When the Riverside project is complete with over 70,000 square feet of space it will be an investment of $15 to 20 million dollars and a good tax base for the city and some new office space according to Ken Perrier. “It is a large investment for our company. The BDC Bank has
been great to work with, very accommodating and helpful. I feel the economy in Thunder Bay is fine. It is strong and everyone seems to be busy who wants to be busy. When you offer a good value for the dollar you stay busy,” said Perrier. “The infrastructure money that is coming
through is a big part of it with the schools, the government money and a lot of road work. It is all good for the economy. The unemployment rate is very low and I think Thunder Bay is a growing community.”
Ken Perrier has lived in Thunder Bay all his life and been in business for 15 years. Before that he worked for Wing Construction as a project supervisor for 14 years. PerHol Construction is also starting construction on a new Tim Horton’s restaurant on Arthur Street and a new corporate store Burger King, on the corner of Edward and Arthur in September. The old Burger King location will be torn down.
