REZONING AND CITY PLANNING

Thunder Road Industrial Park is approximately 44 acres of land located at Highway 417 and Boundary Road in Ottawa, Ontario, opposite Amazon’s newly constructed one million ft² fulfillment centre.

OPPORTUNITY AND CHALLENGES

Working with the City of Ottawa as it prepared its new Official Plan, Avenue 31 presented two position papers on the future of logistics and logistics facilities in the city. We are seeking to see additional lands designated for these purposes over the next 30 years to address the growing demand for freight and other industrial uses across the region and the province. The Thunder Road project will add a substantial amount of industrial inventory to the growing Boundary Road Industrial Area.

SOLUTIONS AND OUTCOMES

Having acquired the site in summer 2019 prior to any planning permissions being granted, we filed applications with the city in late fall 2019, which culminated in city staff and the planning committee supporting the re-designation of the lands for industrial purposes. Based on the proposed new designation, Avenue 31 has conditionally sold six of the 44 acres at approximately 6.5 times the original purchase price and is scheduled to close in Q4 2021 once rezoning is complete. Based on this conditional sale, the remaining lands now have a fair market value over five times that of the original purchase price, representing a significant return on invested capital. Over the next three to five years, we plan to develop the lands into a multi-unit industrial park totalling over 400,000 ft² with a project value at completion in excess of $80 million CDN.