The annual ranking by Toronto-based Real Estate Investment Network also names Hamilton the third-best place in Canada for investment, after Edmonton and Calgary. The honour is the second time in two months the city has been given a gold star as a target for investment.
REIN president Don Campbell said the ranking is a testament to Hamilton’s potential to attract jobs and business over the next five years.
“We’re looking for the cities with the most future potential, not what’s happening now,” he said. “We see a real window of opportunity for Hamilton in the next five years.”
Neil Everson, director of economic development for the city, said the recent cascade of glowing reports on Hamilton’s potential will help the ongoing effort to sell the city as a location for businesses and jobs.
“It’s really nice to see some good things coming out about the municipality,” he said. “Things like this are a great way to promote the city.”
In April, British-based FDI Magazine, owned by the prestigious Financial Times Group, ranked Hamilton as one of the top 10 large cities in North America ripe for foreign investment. Specifically, the publication ranked Hamilton ninth on its list of best large cities for investment, and seventh on a sub list of large cities ranked by infrastructure.
In a report to be issued this morning, REIN said years of efforts to diversify the city’s economy away from its traditional manufacturing base are paying off and opening a path to a shiny new future.
“Known formerly as a hard-working steel town, the city has quickly shed this image in the eyes of potential investors,” the report states. “Helmed by a forward-thinking government and Economic Development team, Hamilton’s population and economic growth have skyrocketed, finally propelling the city to the top of our list of Ontario Investment Towns.”
Several factors have made that change possible, including the city’s proximity to airports here, in Toronto and Buffalo, good highway access to the American border at both Niagara and Detroit, the busiest port on the Great Lakes and ready access to international rail lines.
Topping the list of monuments to Hamilton’s new economy is the McMaster Innovation Park — a former refrigerator plant turned into an idea factory, a move REIN said is “sparking an entrepreneurial spirit in the city.”
MIP, the report says, “will be the only one of its kind in the region and will build on the university’s existing reputation and prominence as a research centre of excellence. MIP will serve as a critical component in the training of graduate students, college students, engineers and highly skilled labour for the automotive and manufacturing industries.”
Campbell warned, however, that training those young professionals is only the first step. To really build Hamilton’s economy, more of them will have to be convinced to stay here to start new businesses, or to live here while commuting to jobs in Toronto over new rapid transit systems.
That will require city council initiatives such as easing zoning restrictions on home based businesses, ensuring higher density housing such as condo towers is available within easy walking distance of transit systems and pushing the revival of the downtown core.
Beyond specific efforts, however, Campbell said Hamilton needs a major attitude adjustment to really unlock its potential.
“Changing perceptions isn’t the easiest thing to do, but it’s the most important thing,” he said. “Everyone in the city is going to have to get behind this attitude shift and become a proud Hamiltonian.”
REIN’s ranking was based on questions such as how income and population growth here compared to provincial and national averages; is the area creating jobs faster than average; what is its rental vacancy rate; is infrastructure in the area being built to handle the new growth and how helpful is the local economic development department?
Hamilton, Campbell said, scored highly on all of those measures, especially the helpfulness of the economic development staff.
“Hamilton’s economic development department is one of the top five for getting its message out,” he said. “Hamilton needs to get behind the development office in all of its marketing efforts.”
Campbell warned that while Hamilton has momentum, that force can be lost if the city makes another “mess” like it did with the Pan Am Games stadium decision — he favours the west harbour location over the refurbished Ivor Wynne Stadium compromise.
“Hamilton made a mess of the Pan Am debate,” he said. “The opportunity presented by the west harbour site was absolutely huge. The long-term positive impact on Hamilton would have been a home run compared to the compromise.”
sarnold@thespec.com
No comments:
Post a Comment