Room to Grow: Sarnia East.

From Tyler Kula, Sarnia Observer.

The beginnings of planning for the next phase of residential development in Sarnia are underway.

City council recently approved $89,000 for a year-long study into what it’ll cost to build in sewers, water pipes and roads in an approximately five-square-kilometre (500-hectare) parcel officially called Development Area 2.

The land, generally bounded by London Line, Confederation Line, Modeland Road and Blackwell Side Road – and home to the Western University Research Park, Heritage Park subdivision, and the Blackwell Glen subdivision – has run out of services for new home builds, said David Jackson, manager of development and transportation with the City of Sarnia.

“There can’t really be any more development there until we do this study and until we decide how we’re going to service it,” he said.

Stantec Consulting is working on the details of cost, he said, but also planning how to phase the work in, to satisfy demand but not overstretch taxpayer pocketbooks.

“Certainly at the rate the city grows, area two should be able to accommodate growth for the next 20 years,” Jackson said.

The surveying work is welcome news to Doug Bain, president of the Sarnia Lambton Home Builders Association.

Link to the rest here.

Image. Google Maps.

Thank you for reading.

Real Estate Investors Jump In Via Email Campaign: Bloomberg.

Lochiel St. at Christina St.

From Patrick Clarke and Julie Verhage, Bloomberg.

Real estate fund managers Michael Episcope and David Scherer had Georgia on their minds—specifically, Atlanta. The city, part of the third-largest-gaining metro area in the U.S. last year, according to Census Bureau data, was only getting hotter. So when the co-founders of real estate investment company Origin Investments spotted an opportunity last year to purchase a 125-unit apartment complex, they jumped on it.

The east portion of the old Sarnia Observer building, Christina St.

The property’s location, in Virginia-Highland, an affluent Atlanta neighborhood that’s home to organic shops, cocktail bars, and an indie film theater, was great. Yet Episcope and Scherer had a problem. They reckoned it would take about $19 million in equity to buy the building and an adjacent undeveloped lot, but they wanted to invest only $12 million.

Their solution was somewhat novel: Instead of bringing in a partner, Origin brought in dozens of them. 

Origin emailed hundreds of investors with an offer to invest in the complex. Twenty-four hours later, the Chicago-based company had raised an additional $6.6 million from 39 investors and had 23 more takers on the waiting list.

“It was spoken for very quickly,” Episcope says. “We came in the next day and had to send out an email and say, ‘We’re filled up because the number of inquiries is more than we could satisfy.’ ”

Just west of the intersection of Christina and Wellington Streets.

Episcope and Scherer founded Origin in 2007 to invest their own money in office buildings and apartment developments in secondary U.S. cities, areas other than inflated markets such as New York and San Francisco. By the time the partners closed a $151 million fund raised from 450 investors last June, they’d transformed the company into something different: a real estate private equity fund that uses crowdfunding-like tactics to raise money from family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

Link to the rest here.

Images. Zach Neal.

Editorial Note. The city core appears to be getting some new investment, including the new Signature hotel at the former Drawbridge Inn, and the refurbishment of the old Colborne Hotel and some other projects, the biggest of which will involve turning the old Bayside Mall into senior's residences as well as retail and public spaces.

Thank you for reading.

Lambton College's Capital Campaign $100,000.00 Richer.

From Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer.

Recent donations have moved Lambton College’s capital campaign $100,000 nearer to its $7-million goal.

Along with $50,000 Point Edward village council committed over five years, the campaign received $50,000 from the Judith and Norman Alix Foundation.

“We were thrilled,” said Marc Guilbeault, director of the Lambton College Foundation.

“The fact that they chose to support post-secondary education in Sarnia was really meaningful for us.”

The $50,000 donation by the Sarnia-based Alix Foundation will support two intensive care units in the Nova Chemicals Health and Research Centre under construction at the college.

The centre is part of a $47-million expansion at the Sarnia college, which also includes an athletics and fitness complex, as well as renovations and expansion to the Centre for Excellence in Energy and Bio-Industrial Technologies.

The $7-million Envision Tomorrow Capital and equipment renewal campaign is part of the funding for the projects also supported by several levels of government and other sources.

“The campaign is going very well,” said college spokesperson Cindy Buchanan.

“We’re about to make a bunch of announcements and recognition in the coming months of a bunch of money that has been donated or earmarked to be donated to the campaign.”

Link to the rest here.

Image. Zach Neal.

Thank you for reading.