In 1997, Ochapowace Nation had the forethought and vision to purchase a tract of land (285 acres), seven kilometres east of Regina, Saskatchewan, adjacent to the TransCanada Highway #1. Currently, the land is generating revenue through an agricultural lease agreement with a local farmer. Given the current growth experienced by the city of Regina, surrounding smaller municipalities, and the province of Saskatchewan generally, this land holding is prime for the development of a business park and would meet the ever growing demand for retail and light industrial space as well as the Ochapowace Nation's need to generate own-source revenue.
Significant work has already been completed for this project. In 2011, Ochapowace issued an RFP and contracted the services of a consulting firm to undertake a concept plan. This concept design was completed in 2012, and we moved forward into the business plan phase, which is now complete. Included in this phase was a marketing strategy and significant marketing efforts to gauge tenant interest and secure anchor tenants in both the retail and light industrial sections of the business park.
Financial projections and a marketing strategy, that included marketing materials already put in use through current efforts to secure tenants, also form part of the business plan phase. We are also currently undertaking a topographical survey to assist with costing the Design/Build phase.
Most importantly, a detailed Implementation Plan has been developed to ensure that all the steps in this project have been identified a timeline established. The Implementation Plan will make certain that the project follows a logical progression, no steps are missed, and no tasks are missed to avoid unnecessary delays.
The mandate of this project is to develop, design, finance and build a profitable retail/light industrial business park in order to provide the Ochapowace Nation with own source revenue created by lease profits generated by this development and employment/business opportunities for our membership. A number of businesses have shown an interest in leasing space for business are: Petro Can, Costco, Wyndham Hotels , Coco Paving , Target, Tim Hortons, Subway , just to name a few .
If everything moves forward as planned, we hope to have the land serviced and paved by the summer of 2014 and move into the construction phase.