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Maple Leaf eyes Hamilton, brings 2,500 jobs

3K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  Steeltown 
#1 ·
I just find this fascinating because usually Hamilton loses jobs to Burlington instead of the other way round. This is definitely a good sign for Hamilton's future. I'm liking Mayor Di Ianni a lot lately. Currently he's got his "Invest in Hamilton" team in China to bring investments to Hamilton.

Maple Leaf eyes Mountain

BY ANDREW DRESCHEL

Maple Leaf Foods is looking at building a giant new plant in Hamilton which will employ as many as 2,500 workers.

According to confidential sources, Canada’s largest food processor is looking at locating on a 40-hectare site in the North Glanbrook Industrial Park, near the interchange with the Linc and the future Red Hill Valley Parkway.

Lynda Kuhn, vice-president of public and investor relations at Maple Leaf, said she can’t confirm a site agreement with the city is imminent.

“We are looking at Hamilton as one possible site, that’s all I can confirm.”

But one source says if all goes well, the deal could be signed as early as next month.

Besides bringing hundreds of new jobs to the city, the plant could jumpstart other manufacturing development in the so-called employment lands, resulting in millions of dollars of new non-residential assessment for the city.

But Hamilton’s gain would be Burlington’s loss.

A new Hamilton plant means Maple Leaf would close its operations at Appleby Line, shifting the existing workforce to the Hamilton factory and eventually doubling the size of its labour force.

With about 1,300 employees, Maple Leaf’s pork processing plant in Burlington, established in 1961, is the city’s largest private sector employer and Halton region’s second largest.

Luring a big company from Burlington would be a singular change of fortune for Hamilton, which is more accustomed to watching businesses migrate rather than emigrate across the Bay.

It’s believed Hamilton has been competing heavily with Burlington, Brantford, Caledonia and Oakville to land the plant.

The city’s “Invest in Hamilton” team, which was formed last fall by Mayor Larry Di Ianni to cut through red tape and fasttrack development for potential investors, is stickhandling negotiations.

That’s the same team of staffers that put together the Lister Block proposal with LIUNA.

While talks with Maple Leaf are drawing to a conclusion, the city is waiting to hear from the provincial and federal governments about a proposal to speed up development of the Glanbrook industrial park. The proposal reportedly suggests a financial partnership which would see the three levels of government pay for servicing the entire 272-hectare park.

Sources say one of the factors in Hamilton’s favour for landing Maple Leaf is that several hundred of the company’s Burlington workers already live in Hamilton. By staying in this area, Maple Leaf will manage to hold onto its skilled workforce without major disruptions in their lives.

Di Ianni and Neil Everson, the city’s executive director of economic development, are on a trade mission in China and could not be reached.

Councillor Terry Whitehead, chair of economic development, refused to comment.

“My lips are sealed. I’m not responding one way or another.”

But Burlington Mayor Rob MacIsaac says he’s aware there are issues surrounding Maple Leaf’s Burlington location and that the company is considering alternatives.

“While we value Maple Leaf a great deal, if they go, life will go on. We’ll regret losing them a great deal but Burlington’s economy will remain strong.”

In a recent interview, Harry Sutton, regional director of United Food and Commercial Workers, said Local 175 at the Burlington plant has been told
Maple Leaf is exploring expansion options but nothing has been finalized.

Apparently one of the difficulties for Burlington is finding sufficient land to accommodate Maple Leaf’s desire to build a new state-of-the-art plant for its kill, cut, package and distribution operations.

Company spokesman Kuhn says the Burlington plant is one of the company’s two largest, the other being in Brandon, Man.

“While (Burlington) is an old facility it has a very large processing base. It processes about 45,000 hogs a week. It’s very important not only to meeting domestic markets but also international markets, including the U.S. and Japan.”

Kuhn says the company is looking at a number of strategies, including reinvesting in the existing plant or relocating part or all of the operation to a new facility.

“As part of that, the company has looked at the greater Burlington-Hamilton area as possible areas where part of that manufacturing base could be undertaken.”

“So Hamilton is definitely part of that search.”

According to the company’s website, Maple Leaf operates five pork processing plants across Canada, processing over 25,000 hogs a day or about six million hogs a year.

But this week the company announced it will build a new $110-million pork plant in Saskatoon that will create 350 new jobs.

Headquartered in Toronto, Maple Leaf employs about 23,000 workers in Canada, U.S., Europe and Asia. Its products include fresh and prepared meats, baked goods, poultry and animal feed.

Last year it had sales of $6.4 billion.
 
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#5 ·
Maple Leaf would spark south-Mountain boom

The relocation of a massive Maple Leaf Foods hog plant could boost house prices and spur more job growth on the expanding south Mountain.

Among other cities, Canada’s largest food processor is in talks with the City of Hamilton about filling a 40-hectare site within the area roughly bounded by Rymal, Dickenson, Trinity and Nebo roads.

It could bring 2,500 jobs to the North Glanbrook Industrial Park if Maple Leaf shuts its Burlington pork processing plant and builds a bigger one in Hamilton.

“We are coming to the finish line in negotiations. It’s a very delicate matter,” said Mario Joannette, executive assistant to Mayor Larry Di Ianni, who is on a trade mission this week in China. The industrial park is a site of about 290 hectares slated for industrial and commercial use. A key reason for building the Red Hill Valley Parkway, the area is expected to be home to 7,500 jobs in the next 30 years.

“First and foremost it means more jobs,” he said. “But there’s also future job growth in the Glanbrook industrial park, and a positive checkmark of the decision to build the Red Hill (Valley Parkway).”

If Maple Leaf relocates, it would add to the flurry of interest on the south Mountain and Stoney Creek Mountain, which is seeing the rise of power centres and new housing developments.

A Glanbrook power centre with a Wal-Mart is being built southwest of Rymal and Swayze roads ( :puke: ). Another is going in at the southeast juncture of the Linc and the expressway.

A market study for the east Mountain, Glanbrook and upper Stoney Creek predicts the area will grow 4.1 per cent a year between 2001 and 2011, near double its 1996-2001 growth rate.

“You’re starting to see amenities come, lots of sports and fitness, lots of parks unlike some areas of the city, it’s becoming mature,” said Stoney Creek realtor Conrad Zurini of Re/Max Del Mar Realty Inc.

“We’ve thought of putting in a new office there because we’ve seen so much growth in that quadrant,” he said of Stoney Creek Mountain, east of the Glanbrook industrial park.

The Summit Park development under way at Rymal Road and Fletcher’s Road is expected to eventually house about 9,000 people in 3,200 homes.

It’s just one of several subdivisions in the area.

“It’s always a supply and demand issue,” said Zurini, who says the province’s greenbelt protection plan is already increasing home prices. “(The plant) may put pressure on prices, but we are so undervalued.”

Peter De Iulio, the city planning department’s senior project manager for the east end, said Stoney Creek’s power centre at the Linc and future expressway has been scaled-down by half to about 300,000 square feet. But residential units have been added to what was once a commercial-only project.

While the potential move of Maple Leaf would be an economic bonanza, there could be drawbacks. The odour of the meat-processing operation, in particular, has given other neighbourhoods cause for concern.

Maple Leaf has run into trouble with its Rothsay rendering plant on Highway 5 in Dundas.

Nearby residents have regularly complained about the smell of the operation, which processes waste from slaughterhouses.

The company has been fined for odour problems and was charged last year for sewage violations.

Top-selling realtor Al Cosentino, of Re/Max Escarpment Realty Inc., admits it can be harder to sell homes near rendering plants or livestock firms.

Maple Leaf is reportedly struggling to find sufficient land in Burlington to accommodate its plans for a state-ofthe-art plant that kills, cuts, packages and distributes thousands of hogs per day.

If they control odour, Cosentino sees the plant adding to the kind of growth that is turning the east Mountain and Upper Stoney Creek into a counterpart to the Meadowlands in Ancaster.

“It’s obviously going to have people moving into the Hamilton area where they’ll buy houses, among other industrial spin-offs,” said Cosentino, who thinks the move from Burlington makes financial sense for Maple Leaf workers.

“Burlington (home) prices are ridiculous and if you come to the Hamilton area you are saving 20 or 30 per cent,” he said.
 
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