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Despite the roller-coaster of the pandemic, last year still saw movement on a number of business properties in Chatham-Kent.
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Back in June, the new owners were introduced for the struggling Downtown Chatham Center.
The ownership group included Rob Myers and Don Tetrault, who also bought the former Navistar property on Richmond Street in May with Mike Vagi.
Myers is the chairman and founder of the RM Group of Companies, while Tetrault owns the Tatro Group of Companies.
The other group members are Jessica and Pete Tsirimbis, who own and operate the Retro Suites hotel; Ron Nydam, the president of JP Contractors Inc .; and Jim Bullock, a former president and CEO of Cadillac Fairview.
The roughly 23,380-square-meter mall property was listed on the Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. commercial real estate website, but the final sale price was not disclosed.
The mall opened in 1982. The property lost Sears, a main tenant, in 2017 and a permanent replacement has not found.
BDO Canada took possession of the property under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in 2020. Before that, Touchstone Group Ltd. of Toronto took back the property the summer of that year after the previous owner defaulted on the mortgage.
As for the former Navistar property on Richmond Street, Tetrault said there has been much interest since their purchase, including leasing inquiries.
The plan is to have commercial development along the front side of the property and industrial in the back section.
The property was formerly a truck assembly plant and a major employer for the community. The company permanently closed the facility in 2011 after it had sat idle for two years, with its structures later demolished.
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There was also action at the municipality’s Bloomfield Business Park, with 3.2 hectares sold.
In November, council accepted offers from Chatham-based Intrepid General Ltd. to buy two parcels of land – both 1.6 hectares in size – through two separate holding companies.
According to a staff report at the time, Intrepid planned to relocate its current headquarters and workshop from Sass Road in Chatham to the business park, as well as build a number of individual industrial condos.
This past year also saw construction begin at a new industrial property at Park Avenue East and Sass Road in Chatham.
The roughly 13-hectare site, which is a private development and not municipal land, was slated to feature seven lots in its first phase.
Apollo General Contracting had stated there was demand in the community for industrial space, with various uses possible at the site.