"We are in the final stages of completing the official community plans for the three small urban municipalities," Mercer said.
He also confirmed another rumour: a large U.S.-based resource-linked company is planning to move into the Belle Plaine node. "We should have details in about a week," Mercer said in early May.
Sweet spot
Belle Plaine represents a near-ideal area for large-scale industrial projects. The land is flat, transportation is excellent and it is close to two of the fastest-growing urban centres in Saskatchewan. Land values for industrial sites - which have averaged $2,000 per acre - are a fraction of that in Regina or Moose Jaw.
"Belle Plaine is a sweet spot for developers," Mercer said.
Belle Plaine is already the site of the Mosaic Potash facility, which employs 700 and is undergoing an expansion, and the Kalium Potash mine. The world's largest nitrogen fertilizer complex, Yara Belle Plaine, is right across the road, and the Nachurs fertilizer plant is nearby. Alpine Plant Food opened a $9 million facility in 2009 and the Terra Grain Fuels is in full operation.
Proposed developments include plants by TransCanada Polygeneration, which would process low-grade oil, and ETX Systems, which is said to have bought 160 acres in the area. K+S Group, which owns Canadian Salt near Belle Plaine, is planning a new potash plant in the area, with production scheduled to start in 2015.
In all, Mercer estimates that more than 1,000 people now work in the heavy industrial plants that surround Belle Plaine, but most of the workers commute from larger centres.
Real estate agent Neil Sundeen of Hatfield Valley Agencies expects that to change. Sudan said he has investors from across Western Canada calling him about land in the area. Last month he listed a 139-acre greenfield parcel about 200 metres from Chubby. "It is right on Highway 1," Sundeen said, adding it would be well situated for residential or commercial development. The aggressive asking price is $995,000, or about $7,000 an acre.
from Western Investor June 2012
