Special Features - Business in Nanaimo 2016

In Nanaimo

Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

BUSINESSBUSINESSBUSINESS

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Abundant land, a skilled and diversified workforce, excellent

infrastructure, key transportation connections and commercial

lease rates up to 60% lower than Vancouver or Victoria…

just a few of the competitive advantages which make

Nanaimo the place of Infinite Possibilities.

Nanaimo Economic FP ad 34823.indd 1 1/30/13 10:10:02 AM

investnanaimo.com ❚ BUSINESS IN NANAIMO 3

Publisher: Maurice Donn

Editor: Melissa Fryer

Contributors: Nicholas Pescod, Tamara Cunningham, Chris Bush

Production Manager: Darrell Summerfelt

Creative: Nanaimo News Bulletin Production Department

Advertising Sales: Sean McCue

Advertising and Editorial Inquiries: 250-753-3707

Business in Nanaimois published by Black Press

for Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation.

104 Front Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5H7Phone: 250-591-1551

Email: [email protected]

© Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation. All rights reserved. For editorial mat-ters, please contact the editor. The views of contributors do not necessarily re� ect the policy or views of the Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation, its Board of Directors, nor that of the publisher. The publisher cannot be held responsible for loss or damage to unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. The publisher is not responsible for the content of any advertisement, or any representations made therein. No part of Busi-ness in Nanaimo may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher.

JOHN HANKINS Chief Executive Of� cerPhone: 250-824-0152 [email protected]

AMRIT MANHASEconomic Development Of� cerPhone: 250-824-0156 [email protected]

BUSINESSIn Nanaimo

5 A made-in-B.C. solution

7 Sector: Investment 9 Sector: Real Estate 10 Manufacturing growing 11 Sector: Construction 15 Sector: Retail 17 Sector: Marine 18 First Nation building strategies 20 Sector: Arts and Culture 22 Sector: Amenities

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Contents

investnanaimo.com

Abundant land, a skilled and diversified workforce, excellent

infrastructure, key transportation connections and commercial

lease rates up to 60% lower than Vancouver or Victoria…

just a few of the competitive advantages which make

Nanaimo the place of Infinite Possibilities.

Nanaimo Economic FP ad 34823.indd 1 1/30/13 10:10:02 AM

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10

20

The big city's backyardNanaimo becomes closer to the mainland

Tilray a top employer in regionMedical marijuana producer expanding

Crane expands capabilitiesPart of multimillion-dollar port project

Sector: TechnologySquareOne hosting tech-based startups

Sector: Education VIU grads supplying skilled labour

Land-based aquafarm leadingSetting example for other companies 8

BUSINESS IN NANAIMO ❚ investnanaimo.com4

Nanaimo attracts homeowners, businesses priced out of mainlandJeremy Van Loon, Bloomberg News

T hree times a week Neil Val-sangkar escapes Canada’s most expensive real estate market by paying $100 for a

20-minute float plane ride to his Van-couver office from his home across the Salish Sea.

The 50 kilometre aerial commute allows the father of three to live in Nanaimo, B.C., where homes cost about a quarter of those in Vancouver, one of the world’s frothiest markets with average homes selling for $1.3 million. He’s encouraging some of his employees to do the same.

“Raising a family in Vancouver is really challenging logistically,” said the 50-year-old chief executive of Sun Coast Consulting Ltd. “I made a life-style choice because of housing and the ease of raising a family here.”

Nanaimo, a formerly rough-and-tumble logging and fishing town of almost 100,000 people on Vancouver Island, offers the same stunning views of snow-capped mountains and rug-ged bays as its larger neighbour. With float planes taking off for downtown Vancouver several times an hour, a vehicle ferry, helicopter flights and a planned high-speed passenger ser-vice, the commute across the Salish Sea makes sense and can be shorter in some cases than commuting by car from Greater Vancouver’s eastern municipalities.

The cost of owning a bungalow in Vancouver now accounts for 87 cents of every dollar earned by the average family. That has triggered protests by young professionals who complain of

having to bunk with roommates into their 30s and forcing them to delay starting families. The provincial government will begin collecting data on foreign buyers who have been accused of driving up prices in the city of 2.5 million residents.

John Winter fled Canada’s most expensive city six years ago, settling in Nanaimo with his wife after strug-gling with Vancouver’s sky-high cost of living. “I knew I’d never be able to afford a home there,” said Winter, 41, who runs Harbour Air Ltd.’s Nanaimo operations. “The average house price in Vancouver is out of everyone’s price range.”

Despite its proximity to Vancouver’s real estate frenzy, Nanaimo seems a world away.

“This was very much a fisherman’s town, a forestry town and had been a coal town,” said Ralph Nilson, presi-dent of Vancouver Island University, a “hinterland school” that’s helping to attract interest in Nanaimo with students from 88 countries, many of whom end up buying property, as part of the 2,000-student campus.

The city, which sells itself as a “solu-tion to Vancouver’s affordability and transit challenges,” is aiming to attract new businesses and their employees, in addition to people nearing retire-ment age who want to realize property price gains in Vancouver and downsize to Nanaimo, said John Hankins, chief executive of Nanaimo Economic Devel-opment Corp.

A single family home averages

$358,200, an increase of about seven per cent over the past five years com-pared with Vancouver’s 57 per cent gain.

In addition to becoming a transporta-tion hub for Vancouver Island, with a new cruise ship dock in one of British Columbia’s deepest ports and an air-port that has had five years of record passenger growth, the town has a growing technology sector.

“We’re really an annex to Vancouver,” said Bernie Dumas, president of the Nanaimo Port Authority. “We’re seeing Nanaimo becoming the backyard of Vancouver.”

Unlike other waterfront cities such as Seattle and its nearby islands such as Vachon and Bainbridge, Vancou-ver’s real estate boom has left prices in Nanaimo and other nearby towns on Vancouver Island largely untouched. For now, that has its benefits. Nanai-mo’s laid-back vibe and quiet streets mean many of its workers walk to the office in 15 minutes, including stop-ping to buy a coffee.

Michael Reid, a 41-year former Van-couver resident who runs a technol-ogy company employing five people, strolls along the harbour walkway after arriving from Vancouver on a float plane and walks back to his office a few blocks away. His Vancouver meeting was finished before noon and he was back in Nanaimo for lunch.

“Vancouver might be more fun, but will you have the money to enjoy it?” he said. “As long as you can easily get to Vancouver when you need to, it’s not a problem living here.” ‹‹‹

investnanaimo.com ❚ BUSINESS IN NANAIMO 5

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A MADE-IN-B.C.

SOLUTIONAs recently highlighted in sev-

eral national media outlets including Bloomberg and the National Post, Nanaimo is a

made-in-B.C. solution to Vancouver's sky-high real-estate costs.

Nanaimo is the second-largest city on Vancouver Island, and being cen-trally located, it offers significant cost savings and employee advantages for a business to establish a presence. A recent survey of companies' reports recruiting outside of the area is easy due to Nanaimo's coastal location, affordable housing, broad range of recreational options and lower cost of living.

Prime commercial real estate in Nanaimo is among the lowest lease rates in B.C. for communities of simi-lar size and significantly lower when compared to Victoria and Vancouver

in each office class.Housing is more afford-

able in Nanaimo com-pared to both Vancouver and Victoria, allowing employees to either enter home ownership,

or if an existing home owner, poten-tially realize substantial savings by selling a property in Vancouver and Victoria and buying and living in Nanaimo.

As far as transportation, Nanaimo is well-serviced with daily direct links to and from Vancouver and Calgary on Air Canada and WestJet. Commute times in Nanaimo are significantly lower than the mainland, parking costs are negligible compared to downtown Vancouver and Calgary; there are seaplane and helicopter services to Vancouver; and there are two B.C. Ferries routes, one from Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay and one from Duke Point to Tsawwassen.

Vancouver Island University, located in Nanaimo, provides gradu-ate and undergraduate degree pro-grams, and international students

from more than 80 countries attend the institution's international MBA program. VIU graduates from various disciplines provide a constant pool of talent from which companies can draw.

The popluation base for the Regional District of Nanaimo is 154,000 and the growth rate was 6.5 per cent between 2006 and 2011. Business growth was 21.2 per cent between 2001-2014.

The Nanaimo Economic Develop-ment Corporation is an arm's-length organization of the City of Nanaimo, providing economic development for Nanaimo and the region. NEDC actively supports the key industry sectors including the operation of a tech incubator called SquareOne.

For anyone considering Nanaimo and region as a business location, NEDC provides services to support the decision-making process, by sup-plying economic data and facilitating introductions to key individuals and organizations. NEDC is there from initial setup to settling and thriving in the community. ‹‹‹


A Nanaimo-based startup com-pany called Kube is aiming to create a social network that keeps users information com-

pletely private. Created a few years ago brothers

Michael and Ian Reid, Kube promises to keep users personal information private from everyone including the company itself, unlike Facebook, which sells user data to corporations and marketing firms.

Users have the ability to decide exactly what content they want to remain public and private.

“All the information inside of Kube is completely private and encrypted, even from us. So we have no access to the information,” said Michael Reid. “We can’t actually see what you have inside your account at all.”

Kube is just one of a handful of technology-based startups to call Nanaimo home in the past year. It was one of the very first tenants of SquareOne, a tech startup incubator located in downtown Nanaimo. In a short period of time, SquareOne has helped build a startup community in Nanaimo according to Reid, who said Kube will be creating a video for a Kickstarter campaign using a film crew they met while at the co-work-ing space.

“You’re not suppose to be sitting at your house all by yourself doing the idea and thinking that you are going to take on the world,” he said. “You gotta get out and talk to people and having things like SquareOne really make things like that go that much further.”

Kelsey Wolff, community manager of SquareOne, said the time to cre-ate a tech-based start-up in Nanaimo couldn’t be better.

“The barrier for entry is low. So many of these start-ups require such little capital input to get them going,” she said.

Lifestyle, relatively low cost of liv-

ing and having Vancouver Island University in town are among some of the reasons that start-up companies have chosen Nanaimo for their base of operations. Nanaimo’s geographi-cal location to larger urban centers such as Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Seattle and California only adds to the appeal.

“You go down to Silicon Valley and you want to hire an engineer it is probably going to be around $120,000 to a $150,000 US,” Reid said. “That is pretty expensive when you are doing a tech start up ... especially when the dollar is low and you can burn through money pretty quick.”

For Hyas, one of Nanaimo’s newest startups, protecting small businesses online is the name of the game.

Founded early last year by Christo-pher Davis, who has the unique dis-

tinction of becoming the first Cana-dian to receive the Director’s Award of Excellence by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2013, Hyas special-izes in online security for small and medium-sized businesses. The com-pany offers a highly secure firewall, intrusion section and prevention system as well as a computer crime investigation for security profession-als.

With more tech start-ups calling the Harbour City home, Wolff said Nanaimo has potential to become a significant player in the start-up land-scape in the coming years.

“We have some interesting startups that have the potential to be that champion, to really spearhead and put Nanaimo on the map,” she said. “We are really beginning to pull in all the pieces.” ‹‹‹

SECTOR:TECHNOLOGY

Michael Reid, co-founder of Kube, foreground, helped create software for a new online social network, which promises to keep user information private.

He and development team Lee Babin, left, Peter Morrison, Ian Reid andDustin Dawes employed facilities and other tenants at Square One

to engineer and promote the product.

investnanaimo.com ❚ BUSINESS IN NANAIMO

7investnanaimo.com ❚ BUSINESS IN NANAIMO

As more Canadian business owners begin to think about retirement, many are selling their businesses to individu-

als from overseas rather than close and impact the local economy.

Thanks to British Columbia’s Provincial Nominee Program, an expedited immigration program that allows prospective immigrants to acquire permanent residence status in Canada in exchange for investing in a new or existing business, numer-ous businesses throughout the prov-ince continue to operate.

Those nominated through the pro-gram must meet numerous require-ments set out by the province and be able to prove that they will be able to invest in a new business or success-fully take over an existing business that not only can employ Canadians,

but generate economic benefits to the local com-munity and province.

In Nanaimo, business owners have embraced the provincial nominee program as a means to keep jobs in the com-

munity. Since 2003, there have been more than 130 applications for busi-nesses in Nanaimo with 34 nominated for residency and there are more than 50 applications awaiting nomi-nation.

Infinite Granite, Let’s Boutique, Dog’s Ear T-shirt and Embroidery Company, and New China Restaurant are just a few of the businesses in Nanaimo sold to foreign owners nom-inated through the program.

Nanaimo has become an attractive community in which to invest due to its spectacular ocean views, end-less amenities, low cost of living and geographical proximity to Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle.

The population of Nanaimo has increased 1.12 per cent annually since 2010 and is only expected to increase.

Between 2004-14, the value of build-ing permits in Nanaimo has increased at a higher rate than anywhere else in the province. The value of building permits in 2014 was $229 million, an increase of 91 per cent from the pre-vious year. Housing starts increased by 60 per cent over the previous year.

The number of business licences issued by the City of Nanaimo has grown by 4.7 per cent in the last five years and 21.2 per cent in the last decade. Leading the way were the professional, scientific, technical sec-tor; health care; and arts, entertain-ment and recreation.

Last year, businesses in Nanaimo paid an average of 2.15 times more municipal tax than residential prop-erty tax based on the same assessed value, which is below the provincial residential tax ratio and is lower than that of similar sized cities such as Kamloops and Kelowna.

Nanaimo’s gross domestic product in 2014 was $4 billion, accounting for two per cent of B.C.’s total GDP.

All these factors point to a commu-nity that can not only support invest-ment but also welcomes it. ‹‹‹

SECTOR:

INVESTMENT


What began as something to do during retirement has spawned into a world-lead-ing business for Nanaimo’s

Steve and Janet Atkinson. Since 2013, the couple have owned

and operated Taste of B.C. Aquafarms Inc., an independently run fresh water land-based aquafarm that produces steelhead salmon, sold under the brand name Little Cedar Falls at Over-waitea Food Group and Quality Foods stores. The East Wellington area aqua-farm is the first of its kind to have its product reach the market place on a continual basis.

The aquafarm was constructed in 2012 and completed in 2013 at a cost of $1.5 million, which included a $450,000 investment from the federal govern-ment through its Aquaculture Inno-vation and Market Access Program. Designed by Nanaimo firm PR Aqua, the farm receives 15,000, 10-centimtre salmon every eight weeks and grows and harvests 1,814 kilograms of salmon per week.

The farm features 15 tanks and has the ability to produce 100 metric tonnes of salmon a year. It is also equipped with a highly advanced and energy-efficient water filtration system. The recirculating-aquaculture system reuses 99.6 per cent of the water on site.

“About 50 per cent of what we do here is science and 50 per cent is growing fish,” Steve Atkinson said. “I really wanted to do something that makes a difference and this will launch a fresh water aquaculture industry in Canada, it really will.”

Taste of B.C.’s unique approach to fresh water aquafarming and meticu-lous attention to detail has attracted scientists, engineers and various other professionals from around the world to the farm.

“We are the world leader right now. We have had visitors from over 20

countries,” Atkinson said. As the population of the

world increases, so does the demand for protein, which is why aquafarming is so important, according to Atkinson.

“The only way you can produce protein efficiently enough is through aquacul-ture. Fish produce protein about … seven times more efficient than pork and 16 times more efficient than beef,” Atkinson said. “Farmed salmon produces protein and converts protein 15 times more effi-ciently than wild salmon. It takes me one pound of feed to grow one pound of fish where as it takes a wild salmon 15 pounds of feed to grow one pound. Its a big difference.”

A large part of the Little Cedar Falls and the aquafarm’s success can be attributed to ensuring the fish taste exceptional, accomplished through the use of ozone and modern technology.

“That’s the thing that we have con-tributed to the industry that nobody else has figured out,” Aktinson said. “Our fish taste fabulous and that has been one of the biggest hurdles – to get them to taste good. Our water quality is just absolutely crystal clear and the fish taste absolutely spectacu-lar.”

In order to make an exceptional product, fish receive no interaction with marine life and are hormone and antibiotic free. The farm regulates the swim speed in each of its tanks, which allows for proper exercise and gener-ally healthier fish.

“As the fish grow we want to increase the swim speed so that they get opti-mal exercise, that they are working hard enough that they stay firm and happy in a swimming pattern where they don’t fight with each other and

don’t have to work too hard to waste energy,” Atkinson said.

Taste of B.C. has worked closely with Vancouver Island University, providing on-site learning for students in VIU’s fisheries department and working closely with professors and educators. All of the farm’s employees are gradu-ates of the university.

“We have all their students go through a practicum at this farm and that was a big part of our origi-nal vision. They get a chance to be exposed with the technology that we have got,” Atkinson said. “We are hop-ing to work with them to develop a full training component on the technol-ogy.”

Last year, Taste of B.C. Aquafarms was named The Ocean Products Com-pany of The Year by Vancouver Island Business Examiner and nominated for a Natural Environment Science Award by the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce. Atkinson said the com-pany is close to making profit and that the real success will be when other farms in B.C. begin to use his farm as a model.

“Success for me isn’t when we are successful – success for me is when we see the farm duplicated,” Atkinson said. ‹‹‹

Land-based aquafarm leads technologyFarm-raised steelhead salmon model for other companies


Nanaimo’s real estate sector continues to remain healthy, thanks to a diversified local economy, scenic views and

ever-increasing amenities. Average real estate prices increased

the past two years and according to Janice Stromar, incoming president of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, Nanaimo isn’t a buyer’s market anymore.

“Prices have started to inch up mostly because there has been a downward pressure on inventory,” Stromar said. “There are less listings than there are new sales.”

Each year the real estate board releases its buyer’s profile, a com-prehensive analysis that looks at the Nanaimo real estate market with regards to demographics, types of properties purchased and other valuable information. Stromar said that 2014 (the most recent profile) was another solid year for Nanaimo.

For 2014, single-family homes rep-resented 61 per cent of the market share while apartment condomini-ums represented 11 per cent. Three bedrooms (35 per cent) and two bedrooms (26 per cent) were most popular with buyers.

Stromar said single-family homes continue to remain more popular than condos in Nanaimo due to their affordability compared to other markets such as Vancouver, where there is a significant price difference between a single-family home and a condo.

“I don’t think there are a big enough differences in the prices here,” she said. “When you’re in Vancouver, you can either buy a home for $2 million or a condo for $500,000 and that is a big difference. Whereas here in Nanaimo you buy a house for $350,000 or a condo for $250,000.”

Listings in the $200,000 to $400,000 range were most popular among buyers, accounting for 56 per cent of sales in 2014. Stromar said decently

priced properties that are in selling condition don’t last long in Nanaimo.

“If they are well priced and in rea-sonably good con-dition, they gone within days,” Stro-mar said.

Fifty-one per cent of real estate purchases in 2014 came from buyers who already called Nanaimo home with 37 per cent of those buyers indicating that they had lived in the Harbour City for more than 20 years.

Buyers from out-side of Nanaimo represented 49 per cent of the market, with 13 per cent of buyers coming from elsewhere on Vancouver Island while six per cent of buyers came from Vancouver. More people moved to Nanaimo from Alberta than from any other province in Canada, with Albertans representing 10 per cent of the market.

Stomar said in her experience some of those buyers coming from Alberta were ones who had moved away from Nanaimo or British Columbia years earlier.

“When I ask people why you are coming here, a lot of it is because they want to be closer to the ocean and they don’t want to be shoveling snow anymore,” she said. “It is like the Hawaii of Canada – where else would you want to live?”

Foreign buyers represented two per cent of the total market share for 2014. The majority of real estate pur-chases made in Nanaimo are by resi-dents within Canada and that there were few buyers from the United

States and China.“There is not a big influx of Chi-

nese buyers,” Stromar said. “I’ve been doing this for 11 years and had a fairly successful career and I have had one Chinese buyer in 11 years.”

In real estate, location is every-thing and Nanaimo’s amenities, such as health care facilities and its prox-imity to the ocean and urban centres such as Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle, make it a popular choice on Vancouver Island.

Although the 2015 buyer’s profile has yet to be released, the last year proved to be a positive for the real estate market in Nanaimo. Listings increased three per cent and sales increased 16 per cent from 2014-15.

The average sale price in 2015 was $391,000 – an increase of six percent over the previous year while Nanai-mo’s benchmark price rose five per cent to $356,300.

“It has been a really good year,” Stro-mar said. ‹‹‹

SECTOR:

REAL ESTATE

Janice Stromar, incoming president of theVancouver Island Real Estate Board,

is seeing well-priced properties selling fast in Nanaimo.

BUSINESS IN NANAIMO ❚ investnanaimo.com10 investnanaimo.com ❚ BUSINESS IN NANAIMO

Manufacturing companies in Nanaimo are making an impact beyond city limits.

For more than two decades, Nanaimo-based Vehicle Mounted Air Compressors, more commonly known as VMAC, has quietly grown itself into a globally respected brand that employes nearly 100 full- and part-time employ-ees.

VMAC specializes in the development of small truck mounted mobile air com-pressors used by public works vehicles and utility vehicles in industries such as mining and oil and gas. Air compres-sors, along with other VMAC products, are manufactured at its 3,065-square-metre facility on Kipp Road.

VMAC was founded in 1988 in Kitch-ener, Ont., by Tony Menard, who moved the company to Nanaimo in 1996 as a way to return to his hometown. For the past 26 years, VMAC established a global customer base and client list that includes Kal-Tire, Cummins, Finning, Lincoln Electric and Brandt Tractor.

Jim Raymond, sales manager for VMAC, said approximately 20 per cent of its Canadian clients are in Alberta, while it also has a significant number of customers in Ontario and the United States.

VMAC has also been able to make a name for itself overseas, where orders come from as far away as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and beyond.

“We are just starting to sell some stuff into the Middle East,” Raymond said. “We are the little success story that nobody knows about.”

Manufacturing in Nanaimo represents roughly 1. 8 per cent of the city’s total business, but the sector is growing. Between 2009-14, Nanaimo’s manufac-turing sector grew by 33 per cent.

Tod Gilbert, vice-president of engi-neering and product development for VMAC, said the manufacturing sector has a real impact in the community.

“Unlike the service industry, manu-facturing supports a lot of other busi-nesses that support us,” he said. “We have got suppliers and equipment sup-pliers and then the companies that ser-vice us, like electricians and shipping companies. There is a lot of money that flows through the community because of the manufacturing industry.”

A.J. Hustins, president of Nanaimo Precast, a CSA-certified company that produces large pieces of concrete for structural applications such as tanks, barriers, wall panels and bridge compo-nents, said the manufacturing industry in the city is better than most people assume.

“Nanaimo has a fairly healthy and strong manufacturing sector and a lot of business people and politicians seem to think that because we are on an island that is a deterrent because you have B.C. Ferries or barges that have to ship product, but that is not the case at all,”

Hustins said.Nanaimo Precast has been in opera-

tion for two years and employs around 15 people with roughly nine projects on the go at any given time. The com-pany ships its products across British Columbia and Alberta and has sup-plied products for companies such as SNC- Lavalin, Pacific Industrial Marine, West Bridge Corporation and others. Its concrete work can be found on a num-ber of bridges throughout the province, including Harrison Lake, Naver Creek and Ryan River.

Nanaimo Precast, like any manufactur-ing company, has a lengthy supply chain that often includes local and regional companies. Nanaimo Precast gets its concrete from Nanaimo’s Mayco Mix and its cement is produced by Lehigh Hanson in Delta, B.C. The company also has suppliers in Qualicum Beach and Victoria.

The low cost of living and the lifestyle of Nanaimo can sometimes give manu-facturing companies an advantage over their Lower Mainland counterparts.

“The cost to manufacture here some-times gives you a better competitive edge because the labour costs are a little bit lower than they might be in Vancouver, Edmonton or Calgary,” Hustins said. “Nanaimo and Vancouver Island have lured lots of entrepreneurs here because of the lifestyle. There are some very unusual manufacturers that are doing a bang up job.” ‹‹‹

Manufacturing a growing sectorManufacturing grew by 33 per cent in Nanaimo region since 2009

A.J. Hustins, president of Nanaimo Precast Ltd., left, oversees work as a pipe saddle for the new Hammond Bay sewage treatment plant wastewater outflow pipe is hoisted to a new location to cure in the company's production facility in south Nanaimo.


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As Nanaimo’s population continues to increase, so does the demand for new residential, commercial and industrial development. That also means change and it’s something that Nanaimo has experienced plenty of during the last decade.

Notable developments include a $27.5 re-development of the B.C. Hydro operations facility that includes a brand new 8,600 square metre building.

Tilray, a producer of medical mari-juana in the city’s Duke Point indus-trial park, is planning a $75-million expansion of its facility.

Meanwhile, the British Columbia Automobile Association is preparing to construct a new service centre in the city’s north end. The service cen-tre, a 700-square metre, two-garage building, will be constructed at 6581 Aulds Rd., directly behind Staples.

The development was approved last year by the City of Nanaimo and has an estimated worth of $1.5 million.

Nanaimo’s Harewood neighbourhood has been going through a num-ber of changes over the

years, with improvements to local parks and other amenities, and devel-opers have clearly taken notice as a number of them purposed new com-mercial developments in the area.

Bosa Properties has proposed a new commercial development, dubbed Village Centre, on the corner of Fifth Street and Bruce Avenue. Located directly south of the Univer-sity Village shopping plaza, Village Centre is a key part of Harewood Neighbourhood Plan, the long-term vision for the south end community. Harewood Village would be loaded with amenities with potential as a location for community events and festivals. Once Harewood's plan is realized, the Village Centre would form the heart of it.

Change could also be coming to Nanaimo’s downtown as there are

some big ideas being considered. A new multimillion-dollar water-

front hotel in downtown Nanaimo has been pitched for property right next to Maffeo Sutton Park. Devel-oped by InSight Holdings Ltd., the 36-storey hotel would be operated under the Hilton brand and would feature 300 rooms, restaurants, com-mercial and retail spaces, and public access to the park and the city’s waterfront. The proposed project at 10 and 28 Front St. would transform the otherwise quiet corner of the downtown into a destination. The overall project is valued at more than $200 million.

Nanaimo could also soon find itself with a brand new multi-pur-pose sports facility and hotel. Last summer, Howard Johnson Hotels unveiled an ambitious redevelop-ment plan for its current location, 1 Terminal Ave. The hotel chain is proposing a 160-room hotel along with a 5,000-seat multipurpose arena that could potentially be the home of a future Western Hockey League fran-chise. The project has been dubbed the Millstone Gateway and is valued at an estimated $80 million. ‹‹‹

SECTOR:

CONSTRUCTION

investnanaimo.com ❚ BUSINESS IN NANAIMOBUSINESS IN NANAIMO ❚ investnanaimo.com12

A recent Vancouver Island University graduate is hav-ing a major impact at one of Nanaimo’s biggest manu-

facturing companies. For the a little more than a year,

Margarita Shabanova and her insight-ful ideas have taken Vehicle Mounted Air Compressor (VMAC) by storm.

Originally hired as an intern, Sha-banova is now the company’s supply chain analyst and is responsible for inventory analysis, reviewing inven-tory procedures and finding creative solutions for improving them.

“Margarita does an amazing job,” said Chris Larson, human resources and special projects manager for VMAC.

Hailing from Khabarovsk, Russia, Shabanova studied her Master of Business Administration at Vancou-ver Island University and graduated last year, where she made the Dean’s Honour List.

Shabanova said she was attracted to Vancouver Island University largely because of the type of MBA offered as well as the school’s loca-tion.

“It was one year of theory and half a year of internship, which is great because other programs had two years of theory for example,” Shabanova said. “It is a more com-pressed course, it was very hard but it was worth it.”

Shabanova and her fellow class-mates learned a variety of relevant skills for today’s working world such as strategic planning, corporate development, lean manufacturing

and finance. During the program, students spent two months creating a strategic plan for VMAC’s entry into the U.S. market. Students were assembled into teams of four, where they competed against each other to develop the best strategic plan for the company.

“VIU worked so well with the stu-dents and gave us so many ideas,” Larson said. “Each group did such different things. They designed logos for us, told us how we were to pen-etrate the market and what the num-bers were. The research that had gone into it was quite huge.”

“It was the best course because of VMAC and that we could apply the knowledge that we learned,” Sha-banova said.

Shabanova was named leader for her team, who created a QR code that once scanned with a mobile device would allow clients and deal-ers to view a 3-D model of VMAC’s various compressor products. Her team ended up developing the win-ning strategic plan for VMAC and Shabanova’s leadership and knowledge helped land her an internship and eventual full-time employment at the Nanaimo-based company.

“How would I know about those things given my age?” Larson said. “This is why we need the technology minds coming out of the university.”

Today, Shabanova implements the knowl-

edge and skills that she learned at Vancouver Island University at VMAC as a supply chain analyst.

“I apply all these courses to my work right now, so when I work on strategic improvements, doing cost-benefit analysis and those sort of things. It is really helpful,” Sha-banova said. “We also had global trade courses and with VMAC being an international company and with our supply chain being in Canada and the United States and all over the globe, it is really helpful to have that background in global trade.”

Shabanova hasn’t just made an impact at VMAC, she is also a vol-unteer board member for the local chapter of the Supply Chain Manage-ment Association.

Larson said Shabanova is a prime example of why VMAC hires local university graduates.

“They bring knowledge to us,” Lar-son said. “As an employer all these young bright minds come to us and things that we don’t see or know they bring to our company.” ‹‹‹

Vancouver Island University graduates supply skilled labour to Nanaimo industries

SECTOR:

EDUCATIONMargarita Shabanova is a Vancouver Island University Graduate applying new ideas to industry as Vehicle Mounted Air Compressor's supply chain analystat the company's manufacturing plant in Nanaimo.


A new mobile forestry program will give students at Vancouver Island University all the necessary tools of the trade.

Last summer, Vancouver Island University received $1 million from the federal government’s West-ern Economic Diversification program and purchased two semi-trucks and trailers outfitted with state-of-the-art simu-lators.

The trucks and simulators are part of the university’s recently established mobile forestry skills training pro-gram, which will provide students with training in a range of high-demand careers relating to the forestry industry, including hand fallers, heavy-duty mechanics, heavy equip-ment operators, logging truck drivers, forestry technicians and loggers.

The state-of-the-art simulators work in a similar fashion to flight simulators, teaching students the fundamentals as well as the ability to deal with a number of scenarios that they would encounter while operating heavy machinery in a work setting. The simulators also have the ability to evaluate student performance to identify strengths and weaknesses.

Glynis Steen, dean of trades and applied technology at VIU, said the simulators are a great resource that give stu-dents real experience on equipment that is worth millions of dollars all while in a safe and controlled environment.

“This is a real nice connection to industry because we are giving them [the students] that foundation piece before they step into, potentially, a million-dollar piece of equip-ment in the forestry industry,” Steen said. “When you are learning, lots of things happen ... You may do something like tip into a pit that you have been digging with your excavator and you will actually feel like you’ve tipped. The simulation is absolutely amazing.”

Vancouver Island University’s new mobile forestry skills training program now gives the school the ability to reach rural and First Nations communities throughout the cen-tral Island, improving access to education and employment opportunities.

“The beautiful thing about the mobile training unit is we can just pull up and simulate on site,” Steen said. “We don’t have people having to pack up from their communities to come to us.”

Vancouver Island University purchased six simulators and is looking to add more in the near future. The mobile forestry skills training program gives students the tools and skills needed to fill the anticipated job openings. ‹‹‹

Simulators provide connection to forestry industryStudents train in safe and controlled environment

BUSINESS IN NANAIMO ❚ investnanaimo.com14 investnanaimo.com ❚ BUSINESS IN NANAIMO

When Craig Hanson dis-covered that a tea he was drinking was from Nanaimo, he was sur-

prised. “I didn’t know we made such awe-

some things right here in Nanaimo,” he said.

That’s when Hanson got an idea.“I just thought it would be cool if

there was something out there where you could rave about these local busi-nesses,” he said.

Hanson eventually came up with the idea create an online market plat-form that would allow customers to purchase products or services from businesses within their own commu-nity without ever having to leave the comforts of home. In 2013, Hanson along with William Zouzouras, Andrea Huhn and Cleary Donnelly co-founded Thriving Locally, an online market place for Nanaimo and Gabriola-based businesses hoping to reach custom-ers in their local area.

“It is all focused around the commu-nity,” Hanson said.

Thriving Locally works in a similar fashion to other online platforms like Amazon or Etsy. In a matter of min-utes, businesses can create an online shop and begin generating listings of their products or services. Creating a shop on Thriving Locally is no more challenging than creating a profile on Facebook.

“They [business owners] don’t need any special kind of web programing available,” Hanson said. “They just need to be able to fill in the blanks.”

With a few clicks of a button, cus-tomers are able to purchase hundreds of items from more than 40 local busi-nesses including Arbutus Distillery, Art With Heart, Blue Poppy, Lobelia’s

Lair, Longwood Brewery and Wrapped Indulgences. Purchases are typically delivered within 48 hours.

One of the numerous challenges that many small businesses face is being able to reach and sell to poten-tial customers. Hanson said in his experience fewer than 50 per cent of small businesses actually have a web-site and for those companies that do, most don’t sell their products online. Thriving Locally solves that problem since customers can pay using any

major credit card or PayPal, an online payment service.

Thriving Locally recognizes the online retail world can be a challeng-ing place, so the company created Thrive Online, a mentorship program that walks local businesses through the basic online retail practices. It helps business owners setup their online shop and teaches best social media practices, how to take pho-tos of products as well as customer engagement and retention.

“It is a one-on-one program where we sit down for roughly an hour each

week for about eight weeks,” Hanson said. “That eight-week period we will go through modules to increase their online habit, which I find is a big thing that they are missing. It is really like a hand-holding process.”

Thriving Locally also established a system that helps keep shipping costs down by having its own truck deliver all of the orders in one trip for a small fee.

“Since we got the shops and the customers all in the same framework, we now know when and where a ship-ment needs to go,” Hanson said. “We can send out one truck to deliver for all the businesses on Thriving Locally, rather than the businesses having to deal with one or two or three ship-ping companies. That’s become a really big draw and it also helps us bring the cost down.”

Thriving Locally currently serves Nanaimo and Gabriola with plans to expand to Campbell River, Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Salts Spring Island, Quadra Island, Victoria and London, Ont. Hanson hopes to eventually have Thriving Locally serve communities right across the country, as long as there is interest.

“Wherever there is the desire for small businesses to sell online and communities to buy online is where you see Thriving Locally pop up,” he said. ‹‹‹

Online platform helps local business thriveMentor program introduces shops to online marketing

Andrea Huhn and Craig Hanson co-founded Thriving Locally,an online marketplace for local businesses hoping to reach customers

in their market region.

“Wherever there is the desire for small businesses to sell

online and communities to buy online is where you see

Thriving Locally pop up.”

14

Nanaimo has become one of the premier destinations for shopping on Vancouver Island. With major retail-

ers such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco, Best Buy, The Hudson’s Bay Company, Canadian Tire and Cabe-la’s, it is easy to understand why.

The retail sector in Nanaimo has grown during the past five years. Between 2009-14, the number of retail businesses in the Nanaimo area increased by 0.9 per cent, exceeding the provincial rate of 0.6 per cent over the same period. Meanwhile, the City of Nanaimo reported a 0.5-per cent increase in business licences for the retail sector during the same five-year period.

A major addition to the retail scene is Lowes, which is expected to open a location at the Nanaimo North Town Centre later this year. Lowes

will fill the void left by Target, which departed last year as part of a com-pany-wide exit plan from Canada. The American-based home improvement retailer is expected to generate any-where between 120 and 140 full and part-time jobs as well as 40 seasonal positions.

Dan Fraser, general manager of Nanaimo North Town Centre, said Lowes will make a great addition to the mall, which already has Canadian Tire and Sears as two major anchor stores.

Lowes will be open at 6 a.m. between Monday to Friday in order to provide service to contractors and trade workers.

“There will be some great cross traffic between the mall. There is an internal exit that will remain and so we will see that cross shopping going to London Drugs and Sears and other stores.”

Lowes is under construction and is expected to open by summer of this year.

At 69,821 square metres and 140 retailers, Woodgrove Centre is the largest mall on Vancouver Island,

drawing millions of visitors annually.Late last year, upscale cos-

metic retailer Sephora, opened a 349-square-metre store inside the mall.

Julia Dow, Woodgrove’s general manager, said adding a high-end, well-respected retailer such as Sephora not only provides choice to the con-sumer but also enhances the shop-ping experience for patrons.

“Sephora is a great retailer, so it improves the allure to the mall,” Dow said. “Every time we can enhance our retail mix through adding a great retailer we are improving the shop-ping centre.”

In an effort to attract more business and improve the shopping experi-ence, Woodgrove’s owners, Ivanhoé Cambrige, announced last year that the mall would undergo a $17-million renovation, which includes upgrades to the mall’s interior and exterior as well as the relocation of the customer service desk, which will be expanded to 148 square metres.

Renovations are currently under-way and are expected to be com-pleted in November. ‹‹‹

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SECTOR:RETAIL



Nanaimo Port Authority’s Duke Point terminal has seen all kinds of cargo come and go from its dock over the

decades and now it has a new crane to handle it.

Last year, the Nanaimo Port Author-ity purchased a slightly used Liebherr mobile crane for $4 million as part of a $9.3-million series of upgrades that included the creation of a new barge berth as well as land enhancements to the terminal.

The new mobile crane, which came from Brazil, improves the range of cargo that the port can handle and will eventually replace the port’s existing crane.

“This is going to give us more capac-ity and flexibility. We can handle all kinds of cargo with this” said Bernie Dumas, president and chief executive officer for the Nanaimo Port Author-ity.

The idea to create Duke Point stems from the 1970s when the government of the day envisioned a time when industrial space in the Lower Main-land would eventually reach capacity. The Duke Point terminal opened in the 1980s and for years was a major

mover of forestry products. The Nanaimo Port Authority han-

dled more than four million tonnes of cargo in 2014, an increase of 22 per cent over the previous year. A reason for the increase can be attributed to the authority’s ability to diversify.

“We are now getting involved in some cargo that maybe 10, 12, 15 years ago we wouldn’t have touched, but because we are so close to Van-couver we see an opportunity to do business that we weren’t traditionally doing,” Dumas said.

In 2012, the terminal began handling containers for the very first time. The port authority estimates that it handled roughly 25,000 containers in 2014 and more than 35,000 containers in 2015 – a 39-per cent increase.

“We started from nothing and we found a new cargo base for the future,” Dumas said.

As industrial space continues to shrink and ports approach capacity in Metro Vancouver combined with the new crane and barge berth, Dumas believes that Duke Point is in the per-fect position to begin taking on addi-tional cargo.

“We think that our terminal at Duke

Point is going to be an ideal location to handle all these components,” Dumas said. “We need to be ready when all this cargo starts to move. If it shows up and we don’t have the infra-structure or equipment in place it is not going to be handled here.”

The Nanaimo Port Authority is look-ing at the addition of a second berth, which would allow the port to handle multiple ships at once as well as big-ger cargo vessels.

“The second berth will give us capacity to do two ships at one time or handle a bigger ship and that is really important,” Dumas said.

The estimated cost of a second birth is around $60-$70 million and the authority is looking at finding inves-tors and turning to the provincial and federal government for funding.

“If we don’t have a cargo facility for central Vancouver Island what is the central Island going to do? You can’t live off the ferry system,” Dumas said.

Dumas said the authority is playing with new ideas all the time to ensure that the future of the port is secure.

“It is survival. If we don’t come out-side the box and find new things we won’t exist,” Dumas said. ‹‹‹

Crane expands cargo capabilitiesPart of multimillion-dollar expansion at Nanaimo Port Authority

1742 BC Shipping News February 2016

PORTS

New Versatility and Capacity for Canada’s West Coast

@portnanaimo 250-753-4146 ext.229 www.npa.ca

THE SOLUTIONS PORT

Duke Point Deep Sea Terminal expands services with a Liebherr 104-metric-tonne Mobile Harbour Crane and new Barge Berth

• Close to Mainland & direct service to Asia

• Expanded vessel options (up to Post-Panamax vessels)

• Continuous container movement & minimal delays

• New load / discharge options & cargo types

• Greater lift capacity and outreach

• Adjacent lay down area

When it comes to marine technology, Nanaimo-based companies Inuktun Services and Seamor

Marine have become worldwide lead-ers, attracting the attention interna-tional corporations from around the globe.

It’s not everyday a Nanaimo com-pany gets to work with world leader in space exploration and research, but that is exactly the case for Seamor Marine, a robotic engineer-ing firm specializing in the research and development of remote-operated vehicles (ROV) for aquatic environ-ments.

Seamor Marine was founded in 2006 after Inuktun sold the intellectual property rights of its highly success-ful underwater vehicle known as the ROV Seamor to a private ownership group. The result was the creation of Seamor Marine, which today sells a variety of remote-operated vehicles, including the ROV Seamor, that are used for industrial and research pur-poses to numerous clients around the globe.

In 2014, Seamor Marine began work-ing alongside researchers and scien-tists at NASA as part of the Pavillion Lake Project, a exploration project that examines microbial develop-ment.

Seamor Marine’s remote-operated vehicles were outfitted with NASA’s highly advanced communications and tracking equipment.

Meanwhile, for the past 26 years Inuktun Services established itself as an industry leader in small-scale robotic vehicles and crawlers. Founded in 1989, the company origi-nally produced the ROV Seamor and has since become a leader in the community for its continuing innova-tion. Today, Inuktun specializes in designing and manufacturing remote controlled robotics and visual inspec-tion equipment. Inuktun’s past cli-ents include Ontario Hydro, Hitachi Nuclear, GE Nuclear Energy and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. ‹‹‹

SECTOR:

MARINE

investnanaimo.com ❚ BUSINESS IN NANAIMO


Snuneymuxw builds economic strategiesFirst Nation looks forwardto working with NEDC

Erralyn Thomas, president of the Snuneymuxw Economic Development Group of Companies.

The forestry industry is antici-pated to kindle economic activity and wealth in the “multiple millions of dollars a

year” for Snuneymuxw First Nation.The first cut was made into 877

hectares of Snuneymuxw-owned forest on Mount Benson last year, representing an important economic driver, new revenue and future employment for more than 1,700 members of the Nanaimo First Nation.

The forest lands are part of a rec-onciliation agreement with the B.C. government, meant to spur economic activity for a nation that’s struggled with economic development, largely because of a lack of land, according to Douglas White III, band councillor and chief negotiator for the Snuney-muxw.

He now sees a community on the cusp of change, of being able to cre-ate employment opportunities and generate wealth for benefits and services and quality-of-life improve-ments for the Snuneymuxw people. With forestry lands and hoped-for achievements with land negotiations in the coming years, the nation has been brought from a place of poverty to one where it has “real financial and economic assets and economic activ-ity for the first time.”

The provincial transfer alone more than quadrupled the nation’s land base and managing it all is a revamped and arms-length Snuney-muxw Economic Development Group of Companies, which is spurring economy activity by managing land holdings and forestry on behalf of the nation and outside the governance of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.

“It’s an incredible moment that we’re in,” said White. “We’ve largely been impoverished by the loss of access to our resources and to our vil-lage sites over the last 100 years or longer, so we’ve grappled with pov-erty and being in a state of dependency for far too long.

“We’re looking for opportunities to build our own wealth so we can set priorities and that we can start to look after ourselves, and to create that kind of independence is what any community and any political commu-nity would wish for itself.”

A key limitation has been the lack of land, he said. As of February this year, the population is 1,769, with 586 peo-ple living on reserve lands that span 266 hectares, according to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.

But claims and negotiations have been expanding the Snuneymuxw land base, with one of the main goals being economic development.

Already the Snuneymuxw Economic Development Group of Companies, tasked with managing land holdings, is attracting the attention of developers, realtors and investors with the land it has, including the south industrial waterfront and Duke Point. The work of the company is just beginning, says Erralyn Thomas, a band councillor and new president of the economic group.

There are so many things the com-pany can do whereas previously “we were within this box, this Indian act

box and you only get this amount of funding and you can only do this with it,” Thomas said.

She sees herself carrying on a vision built up by previous councils and chiefs, with an economic group that will allow for wealth generation, com-munity development and an increased land base – all without compromising cultural values and way of life.

Forestry has been a big deal for the community, and there has been a transition from dealing with pennies to millions overnight, she said, add-ing it allows for things to be done that couldn’t before.

Thomas is excited about engaging the community and optimistic others like the City of Nanaimo and Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation are receptive to working with the Snuneymuxw. She is also clear, that gone are the days Snuneymuxw is left in the dust and development won’t happen without them at the table.

“Boom, Snuneymuxw is here, guys.” ‹‹‹

Located in Nanaimo’s industrial district sits a large state-of-the-art production and research facility.

The 5,574-square-metre building is the home of Tilray, a producer of med-ical marijuana and one of Nanaimo’s largest employers.

Tilray was established in 2014 by Pri-vateer Holdings, which invested $23.2 million into the establishment and construction of the Nanaimo facility.

“We were in discussions with sev-eral cities across Canada to locate our facility, we choose to locate in Nanaimo as the cost base, access to a skilled labour and support from NEDC and the city made the decision easy,” said Greg Engel, Tilray chief executive officer.

It didn’t take long for the Nanaimo-based company to make significant impact on the local economy. Within nine months of operations, Tilray generated $48.1 million in economic output and $27.4 million in provincial gross domestic product, fostering 215 direct jobs and supporting an addi-tional 180 jobs.

Today, the company employs approximately 125 full-time and part-time employees in a variety of posi-

tions, including research scientists, botanists, horticulturalists, manufac-turing executives, management and security, resulting in $3.2 million in local wages and salaries.

Since production began in April of 2014, Tilray managed to become a nationwide leader in the production of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Now the company is working on approval to expand its facility with the construction of a five-storey building that would be roughly 7,896 square metres in size. The facility would increase Tilray’s laboratory and research capabilities. Once approved, the expansion will result in capital expenditures in the province worth $64.7 million and would have a projected annual operating cost of $48.8 million.

“We are one of the top 10 private

employers in the region, so certainly expansion of our existing facility and expansion of our workforce would have a significant impact," said Engel

The construction of the expanded facility will result in $112.8 million in total economic output in British Columbia and $55.8 million in provin-cial gross domestic product. Once completed and at full production, the facility will be able to generate on an annual basis $88.7 million in total economic output within the prov-ince, $66.8 million in provincial gross domestic product and $17.8 million in tax revenue for all levels of govern-ment and support 459 full-time jobs.

Tilray also has global ambitions, as it recently applied for a medical can-nabis licence in the South American country of Uruguay. The goal is to establish Tilray’s brand beyond the borders of Canada and put Nanaimo on the map.

“We are working with different groups globally and also with the federal government to explore those opportunities and I think we are in a greater position to expand the exper-tise and knowledge and potentially product that we are producing in Nanaimo to global markets.” ‹‹‹

Tilray poised for rapid expansionMedical marijuana producer contributes millions to local and provincial economy

"The cost base, access to skilled labour and support from NEDC

and the city made the decision easy."


Nanaimo is home to a vast number of performance ven-ues and culture centers.

The city’s most recognized and popular venue is the Port The-atre, which first opened in 1998. The 800-seat theatre hosts more than 250 events a year and attracts more than 100,000 people.

But as beautiful as the Port Theatre is, plans are in the works to see it expanded.

The Port Theatre Society, which oversee operations of the downtown venue, is working toward finalizing and securing funding for $12.6-mil-lion expansion of the theatre. The ambitious plan calls for a 50-220 seat performance venue along with three additional rehearsal spaces that could be turned into small performance spaces if needed. The society is hop-ing for the expansion to be complete by next year.

Just steps away from the Port The-atre lies one of the city’s prized pos-sessions, the Vancouver Island Con-ference Centre, a 3,500-square-metre convention centre.

The conference centre opened in 2008 and can host small and medium-sized events, such as trade shows, arts and culture events, and weddings for up to 1,300 people.

Attached to the conference centre is the Nanaimo Museum, where visitors can learn about Nanaimo’s history. It is also the site of the Nanaimo Sports Hall of Fame. The museum’s upcom-ing exhibit, Characters, Con Men and Celebrities, will examine the lives of colourful people from Nanaimo’s past.

Two years ago, Nanaimo Centre Stage was a building in need of new blood. Located just minutes away from the Port Theatre and the Van-couver Island Conference Centre, the building landed a new management group, received a paint job, a new

lease on life and a new name. Now known as the Harbour City Theatre, the Victoria Road venue plays host to numerous productions throughout the year as well as live music and comedy. Once operated by the City of Nanaimo, the building was taken over by the Harbour City Theatre Alliance, who have made it their mission to revitalize the performance space.

The intimate space has a seating capacity of around 100 people – depending on the event – and was the host of the Nanaimo Fringe Festival, an annual event that draws artists and visitors from across North America.

Nanaimo’s main academic institu-tion, Vancouver Island University, is the among the city’s breeding ground for artistic and cultural creativity. The school’s Malaspina Theatre, a 294-seat venue, is home to student-led productions, colloquium series, movie screenings, concerts and more.

The university also boasts Shq’apthut – A Gathering Place, a cul-tural centre for First Nations students and members of the community. The 139-square metre building, which meets the gold standard in energy and environmental design, was created to foster understanding and education of aboriginal culture, history and heri-tage.

When it comes to live performance venues in the Harbour City, Bailey Studio is among the oldest. And while it may be more than 30 years old, it certainly doesn’t feel that way. Con-verted from an old miner’s shack in 1971 by the Nanaimo Theatre Group, Bailey Studio recently underwent a renovation, which included upgrades

to its roof. The 172-seat theatre boasts a computerized lighting system and modernized sound equipment.

The sheer number of arts and cul-ture organizations in Nanaimo is stag-gering. From the Cedar-Yellowpoint Drama Group to the Nanaimo Arts Council, the list of organizations in the city is endless. Among two of the cities oldest and best known organiza-tions are TheatreOne and the Vancou-ver Island Symphony, which have both been existence for more than 20 years.

For more than three decades The-atreOne has been staging professional theatre production in the Harbour City. The not-for-profit organization stages four professional productions each year as well as its Just Kidding series of four productions tailored for families. TheatreOne also offers Nanaimo the opportunity to indulge in independent films through its Fringe Flick series, which screens at Avalon Cinema in Woodgrove Centre.

Over the years the Vancouver Island Symphony has built a reputation to become one of the province’s most respected symphony orchestras. Based out of Nanaimo, the Vancou-ver Island Symphony not only hosts numerous concerts each year, but also offers a number of programs including the Grade 5 Fabulous Five Choir, which is led by Patricia Plum-ley. Active within the community, the symphony hosts countless events throughout the year including the annual Symphony Community Days, the popular Symphony By the Sea and Play On Nanaimo. ‹‹‹

SECTOR:ARTS & CULTURE


For any movie buff, the Vancou-ver Island Short Film Festival is a great chance to check out a variety of locally, national and

international produced short films. VISFF takes place in February at Van-couver Island University's Malaspina Theatre.

The Maple Sugar Festival is a great opportunity for families to keep warm for one weekend in February. Hosted by the L'Association des fran-cophones de Nanaimo, the festival is unique bilingual event. Visitors are treated to a wide range of activities and a diverse lineup of musicians and dancers, as well as samples of tra-ditional authentic French Canadian foods.

A relatively new festival to take over the Harbour City is Festival Nanaimo. The month long festival features live music, arts and crafts, theatre, culinary events and sporting events. Among the major highlights is the Vancouver Island Symphony's Nanaimo Bar None, a one-day event

that features a live performance by the symphony, and PirateFest FunDay, a family themed event that encourages kids to explore their pirate side.

Held each year in June, the Multi-cultural Festival celebrates Nanaimo and Canada's diversity by featuring a wide array of international food, music and dance. The objective of the festival is to not only bring the city's cultural diversity together, but to celebrate it.

One day in July numerous organi-zations gather together at Maffeo Sutton Park and race to build the craziest and silliest boat possible. The Nanaimo Silly Boat Regatta takes place every year and is a fundraiser for the Nanaimo Child Development Centre, drawing thousands of people out to the shores of Nanaimo's inner harbour.

One of the biggest festivals of the year is the Nanaimo Marine Festival and World Championship Bathtub Race. The festival celebrates other marine sports and draws racers and spectators from across British Columbia in July.

Held at Beban Park, the four-day Vancouver Island Exhibition, more commonly known as VIEX, takes place in late August and is an agri-cultural showcase for local farmers. VIEX features a wide range of family fun events such as amusement rides, carnival games, culinary contests, pie-eating contest, celebrity goat milking and livestock provided by the 4-H club. VIEX also hosts a number of musical acts during the four days.

From October 8-10, hundreds of art-ists from around Nanaimo will open their homes, hearts and studio's for the annual Thanksgiving studio tours, which are held in Nanoose Bay and Gabriola Island. The tours, which draw thousands of visitors from across the province, are held on thanksgiving weekend and are a great opportunity for people to interact with local artisans. Organized by the Gabriola Arts Council, the tour has become one of Gabriola Island's most important annual events.

Whether it's music, theatre, or embracing the sillier things in life, Nanaimo has something for every-one. ‹‹‹

Events Nanaimo


A brand new state-of-the-art water treatment plant and fil-tration system plant that has been under construction for

years is open and fully functional.The $71-million South Forks Water

Treatment Plant began operating late last year and is one of the city’s largest and most expensive capital projects in decades. The multimillion-dollar facility replaces an aging treat-ment plant that no longer meets stan-dards set out by the Vancouver Island Heath Authority and the Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines.

The new plant, which serves Nanaimo and region, is able to screen minute particles and kill viruses, bac-teria and disease-causing organisms and will reduce levels of turbidity, which lowers the potential for boil water advisories.

“Weather-related boil water adviso-ries will be a thing of the past,” said Bill Sims, the City of Nanaimo’s man-ager of water resources.

Just as important as clean drink-ing water, parks in the region play an important role in individual health and well-being.

Nanaimo’s destination waterfront park, Maffeo Sutton Park, has trans-formed from an industrial site into an important asset to the city during the past 60 years. The downtown park has become host to many of the city’s major events and festivals, such as Canada Day celebrations, Marine Fes-tival and Great International World Championship Bathtub Race, and Summertime Blues Festival.

An ambitious plan to redevelop the park in 2008 led to significant changes, including the creation of Spirit Square and the demolition of Civic Arena.

Bigger plans are in the works for the city’s downtown green space. After holding public input sessions last year, city planners released three sketches of what Maffeo Sutton Park could look like within the next 15 years. Proposed improvements include an expanded playground,

enhanced shoreline, possible ame-nity buildings, widened sidewalks, new parking structure and an urban wildlife refuge.

The city is taking feedback from residents on the three proposals in an effort to better understand the wants and needs of the community and to ensure that Maffeo Sutton Park remains a key part of the city for years to come.

A popular destination for those living in the city’s south end is Hare-wood Centennial Park. The 6.4-hect-are park is in the beginning phase of a roughly $2-million transformation. Last summer, the City of Nanaimo upgraded the park’s play structure and electrical system as well as improved parking and added a moun-tain bike course at a cost of around $285,000. Future upgrades to Hare-wood Centennial Park will include the creation of a perimeter trail system, covered multiplex, public art, a skate park, rock climbing wall, improved washrooms and youth facilities.

Indoor recreation is equally as important as outdoor recreation to the City of Nanaimo. Each year the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre and Beban Park Pool undergo upgrades to ensure the amenities meet the standards of residents. This year, the aquatic centre got a fresh coat of paint and the leisure pool light-ing was converted to high-efficiency LED. Perhaps the most noticeable change for frequent users will be the kids’ pool, where the play structure received a new slide and side netting.

Meanwhile, Beban Park underwent energy conservation measures. The pool will now receive heat from the nearby ammonia plant in the arena. Other upgrades include new spray features to the leisure pool and three new workout machines for the weight room. There are plenty of other plans for the park, as the city has adopted a master plan that includes a central boulevard, multi-purpose buildings, greehouses, permament food ven-dors and more.

Keeping the mind educated and engaged is equally as important as keeping the body moving. After under-going nearly $900,000 in renovations and spending the majority of 2015 closed, the Harbourfront Library opened up in late fall. The renovations transformed the downtown library into a bigger and brighter space that will make for a more comfortable and enjoyable experience for users. The library now features Creativity Com-mons, a space that allows individuals and small groups to create digital content, publish hardcopy books and learn new skills in the area of technol-ogy. The commons come complete with state-of-the-art computers and a brand-new $85,000 self-publishing machine.

By next year, medication distribution at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital will be controlled by machines. That’s because NRGH is getting $4.64-million upgrade to its pharmacy this year. The upgrade includes renovation and expansion to the pharmacy and a $2.14-million automated medication dispensary system, which will have the ability to package, label and dis-pense 520 different types of medica-tions at a single time. Barcodes include dosage and patient information as well as how to administer the drugs. In addition to the pharmacy upgrades, the hospital will receive new CT scan-ners later this year. The two new scan-ners are valued at $3.2 million and will reduce radiation exposure to patients.

Whether it is ensuring that residents have clean drinking water, excellent health care or a wide range of outdoor and indoor facilities to use, the City of Nanaimo continues to invest in the areas that play a big role in everyday life. ‹‹‹

SECTOR: AMENITIESBill Sims, city manager of water

resources, looks into one of the filtration tanks at the South Forks

Water Treatment Plant.


Business in Nanaimo

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Special Features - Business in Nanaimo 2016