Industry moving forward in Coaldale

Industry is growing in Coaldale’s northeast industrial park.

“We’re very pleased with the level of growth that we’ve experienced in our industrial park over the past couple of years. Actually, three years ago, council had invested $5 million dollars into two phases of the northeast industrial park and that has really created much needed industrial land for future industry,” said Kalen Hastings, director of municipal relations for the Town of Coaldale.

To date, Hastings noted, the town has sold 13 acres in phase two of Coaldale’s northeast industrial park.

“The footprint of the buildings range from 108,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet. We currently have 10 acres of fully-serviced land that is for sale and ready for development because of the diversity of size requirements of prospective industry we have the flexibility to customize parcel sizes and servicing requirements. The asking price for town-owned industry lots is $144,000 per acre,” he added.

Phase three of the northeast industrial park, Hastings said, will be situated along the north edge of phase two and will form what will eventually become 12th Avenue.

Hastings said phase one sold 11 acres of property with a total of 22 acres of property sold in all three phases of development.

“With there still being availability for other prospective buyers.”

One of the reasons the town has constructed the industrial park in phases, Hastings explained, is the town wanted to develop at a sustainable pace.

“The last thing you want to do is over develop and then be out of pocket a significant sum of money to pay for that development. What we wanted to do is create a phase, sell the lots, and then use the money from those sales to create the next phase,” said Hastings.

Hastings added it could be a great advantage being close to an urban centre, as Coaldale is to Lethbridge.

“The advantage of Coaldale is we have industrial land that we’re selling for a lesser price than Lethbridge, for example. Our tax rate for non-residential property is also lower than Lethbridge. With Lethbridge being close to Coaldale there is an increased labour pool and increased market and we’ve turned that into an advantage from an economic development industrial point of view,” said Hastings.

According to Hastings, the town’s goal after selling the rest of the lots in phase two is to look at phase three to keep the momentum moving forward.

“There’s a demand for it and there’s a lot of good spin off that can come from the businesses that have already purchased and developed. We’re quite excited about the potential of our industrial park,” he said, adding not just for business but for the entire community.

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