Busy time for economic development in the County of Grande Prairie

There are a number of new business projects on the horizon in the County of Grande Prairie.
 
Economic Development Manager Chris King gave Council an update at Monday’s meeting.
 
He says local and University of Alberta officials are reviewing a report on using deep geothermal heat for electricity projects or commercial and residential heating in the Clairmont area. At least one possible industry partner has been identified.

“There’s certainly a lot of interest in the project. The University of Alberta conducted a project called the Deep Dive Project, where they looked at using the existing wells and obtaining the data from those wells to identify geothermal opportunities in the province. That report certainly generated a lot of interest within industry as to what opportunities may exist for these type of energy and electricity programs from geothermal.”
 
The County also recently approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the City and MD of Greenview on the Tri-Municipal Partnership that will see new industrial development in the MD. King says this is a critical step.
 
“Obviously, we can’t have a Tri-Municipal Industrial Partnership without three municipalities partnering. It’s been a long road to get to this point. The timing of it has been appropriate. This is a very different project than we’ve ever seen undertaken before in the province.”
 
King estimates it will be two to three years before construction starts on anything.
 
He adds tenants have shown interest in proposed commercial space at Four Mile Corner that could potentially be over 100,000 square feet, although it is too early to say when it will actually be built.
 
“We’re working with a developer who’s very experienced in commercial real estate development. They’ve been working with a number of tenants that are interested in the location. We’re helping assist them to get people to understand that  Grande Prairie is not a remote outpost in the northern boreal forest, as was described in the National Post.”
 
During an update to County Council Monday, King also mentioned there is talk of what is being described as a “major industrial developer” looking at the County, but no other details can be given right now.