By Heddy Sorour, Ottawa Business Journal, February 27, 2023
Avenue 31, the Ottawa-based real estate and development company behind the National Capital Business Park, is launching a new project dubbed Camino-Long Sault, a proposed multimodal logistics village near Cornwall.
“Camino is a brand we want to grow to develop a series of inland ports in Canada,” Michel Pilon, CEO of Avenue 31, told EOBJ. “Our vision with Long Sault is to develop an inland port with rail access and the ability to cater to the shifting needs of large companies involved in consumer products, or a whole range of commodities and goods.”
The company has secured 675 acres on Hwy. 401 at Moulinette Road in Long Sault, west of Cornwall. The site has nearly two km of frontage on Hwy. 401 and three km of double CN rail line to the south, which is certified by Canadian National Railways as rail-ready.
“This project will attract huge investments to the Township of South Stormont,” said Tara Kirkpatrick, manager of economic development with the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry (SDG). “When complete, it is expected to create more than one thousand new jobs, which will stimulate our local economy and put SDG counties on the map as a top region to invest in.”
Camino-Long Sault addresses a Canada-wide scarcity of modern warehousing and logistics spaces. In a recent report, global real estate and investment brokerage CBRE says that availability of industrial space has been at all-time lows in the region, with rental rates rising every quarter for the past three years.
“(Hwy.) 401, a major transportation route to begin with, has seen significant interest for that reason and with transportation costs the way they are, anything along rail lines can carry a huge premium as well,” said Steve Piercey, vice-president of advisory and transaction services with CBRE.
