What Can We Expect In Thunder Bay for 2012?
By Scott A. Sumner
A new year begins has begun here in Thunder Bay and NW Ontario. The question on many minds in the business community is what type of an economic environment can we expect? It is hard to say for sure but there are lots of good things happening.
The landscape of Thunder Bay continues to change with a transformation of our economy. The airport is expanding their footprint with more parking spots, a new green energy tenant and hotel on the horizon. It is impressive to me that we have so many direct flights to Toronto each day with Air Canada, Porter and West jet. Equally as impressive is the flights seem to be always quite full and many are flying here to conduct business and then go home. There must be quite
substantial interest in Thunder Bay.
A drive in the downtown South core lets you see a massive new courthouse building under construction. This $150 million project will make a huge image change for the area. Also new is the District Social Services Administration Building that is very impressive as well.
A drive to the North core waterfront will showcase the new Prince Arthur's Landing with it’s new buildings, artwork and landscape. It gives a nice image for our beautiful waterfront. Lets hope we see some construction activity with the new hotel and condominium buildings soon. The hospital/university area is in my opinion the most impressive of Thunder Bay. The TBRHSC facility is one we can all be proud of and Lakehead University has become a comprehensive institution with a new law school approved.
There are many great retail opportunities in Thunder Bay and more coming all the time. We have much to offer the local citizens and guests when they need to shop. A drive down Balmoral Street showcases the changing look of Thunder Bay. This area is transforming with renovation to many businesses and new buildings going. It gives me a feel of a more prosperous city.
When I do my business interviews I hear quite often about the importance of mining in the city. The numerous developments that are happening in our region are having an immediate economic impact on Thunder Bay and will only increase as these projects progress. Mining
has been a great growth area for our region and has helped during the forestry industry changing times.
I think we have lots going on in Thunder Bay. The advance of technology is amazing to me and means that you can be living in our beautiful setting of Thunder Bay and does business around the globe. As the well-known phrase puts it “ The sky’s the limit”
