Vacant Downtown property was put on display during the inaugural Downtown Vacant Building Tour on Saturday, attracting retailers, entrepreneurs and investors to see what North Bay's core has to offer. PHOTO BY LIAM BERTI
Downtown North Bay was on showcase Saturday afternoon, with business owners, retailers, developers and entrepreneurs exploring what the strip has to offer.
The inaugural Downtown Vacant Building Tour attracted a wealth of local and visiting prospective investors, who were guided on a nearly three-hour viewing of 15 properties throughout the downtown core.
“We’re looking at different ways of attracting business and investment into the core,” said economic development officer for the City of North Bay, Steve McArthur. “It’s not enough to see it online; you have to actually go to the space and be in it and visualize your business in there.
“That’s what the tour is about: getting into these spaces and looking at them from a different perspective.”
While also being open to the public, specific invitations were sent out to entrepreneurs from North Bay and other Northern Ontario towns, most of whom said the well-crafted pitch was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Staff from various City departments were also on hand to field questions about building permits, start-up processes and potential funding programs to property owners, tenants and investors.
Those in attendance also had the opportunity to meet some of the current property owners as well.
“I think service-based businesses are the right fit for down here, just to get the critical mass; people will go to service-based businesses,” said property owner Joss Forget. “Our Downtown is important and if we can get the right businesses to set up here, I think we will all benefit.”
Like most other small towns, North Bay’s Downtown was hit by the economic downturn in recent years, with low consumer confidence driving out many of the start-ups and even long-time establishments.
“I don’t think there’s a deterrent, I think it was just the economic change,” said Executive Director of Downtown North Bay, Jeff Serran. “But now, there’s more of an economic confidence taking place, there’s starting to be consumer confidence again.”
According to Serran, 14 new independent businesses opened their doors last year in the downtown core, consisting of McIntyre Street, Main Street and Oak Street. This year already, Serran claims seven new businesses have started up.
Other entrepreneurs in attendance had other ideas as to why the downtown strip has struggled to retain businesses, something not just unique to North Bay.
Sudbury-based entrepreneur Rob Gregorini, who said he was impressed with the initiative on Saturday, had another explanation for the downtown vacancies.
“There’s nothing deterring people, it’s just the natural smaller town impact of urban sprawl,” said Gregorini, who’s been in the restaurant business for over 15 years. “The challenge here is the same challenge that we have in Sudbury: creating a magnet that can rival the exterior pull magnets.”
“Collective is always the way to go, you need strength in numbers,” Gregorini said of revitalizing the downtown core. “I think we all want to see our downtown’s boom and thrive, and I absolutely want to be a part of that.”
McArthur says the idea for the tour was adopted from some communities in the United States. He and Serran said, as far they know, their brainchild is one of the first of its kind in the province.
Apparently some other municipalities throughout the province have also contacted the North Bay group asking for a template to replicate the event in their own towns.
While the amount of transactions that come as a result of the tour will not be known for some time, organizers say the success of the tour was already justified in the turnout it received.
“In terms of measuring success, we’re showing 15 properties and if it ends up with one, two or even three investments, that’s mission accomplished,” said McArthur. “If nothing else, we’ve given the opportunity for people who may not have been here before to see the community and see what we have to offer and consider doing business here.”
While the first ever Downtown Vacant Building Tour was considered a success by organizers and guests alike, all parties acknowledged that it’s merely the first step in revitalizing the vibrancy and dynamic atmosphere that Downtown North Bay is capable of.
“This is definitely a win-win for us; if we can fill some of these spots, it will benefit all of our other businesses as well,” Serran concluded. “Eventually it would be nice to not have to do this because the buildings are all full.”
