Building permits
Total building permits hit a record $51 million last year, and the city is awaiting a provincial/federal decision on a commercial-sized clean coal project at nearby Boundary Dam Power Station, owned and operated by SaskPower. The federal government has committed $240 million to the project and a final decision for the second phase of the program is expected this month.
Meanwhile, a 50,000-square-foot, $14 million Energy Training Institute is going up on the city's east side, representing a new campus in Estevan for the South East Regional College, and a fresh commitment to the local coal mining and oil patch.
The city is also opening a new 4,000-seat, $24 million arena and event complex next month. The project raised more than $7 million in local pledges in less than seven months.
Now the push is on to attract more families, said Edie Spagrud, CEO of the Saskatchewan Southeast Enterprise Region. There is a need to move transient employees into more permanent housing for their families, he said.
Commercial
Commercial and industrial leases are running between $18-to-$20-per-square-foot, triple net, and there are more than 20 serviced industrial acreage lots available for immediate development.
Estevan has forged a working relationship with the nearby RM (rural municipality) of Estevan, to share tax income in exchange for development lands infrastructure and maintenance agreements.
"If the proposal calls for an acreage of four or more acres, then we would have a tendency to recommend the RM of Estevan and there is no loss of income for either of us because of this arrangement," said Puffalt.
Estevan is the main electrical power producer in Saskatchewan and the Bakken oil play is not expected to slow, even if oil prices slump.
"We had the highest construction pace we've ever seen just last year," said Puffalt. "There are over 2,300 jobs listed in the immediate area that need to be filled. It doesn't look like any slowdown is being expected around here."
Puffalt said the city continues to offer an incentive package for real estate developers that includes a year of property tax relief during the first year of construction and for the four years following that.
from Western Investor, April 2011
