Spring-ing into the New Year

An (overdue) Update:

Fort Car Wash Refinancing: Approved by both the financing institution and the board. Upgrades in progress. Equipment pricing still to be finalized as new technologies may be better utilised than traditional upgrades.

Fort Car Wash Phase 2: Local competition has closed up shop and the building is now in recievership. Commercial bay requests continue to increase.

One option to capitalize on this may be the incorporation of a second company - with the first owning the buildings in both Edson and the Fort and the second acting as an operating company for both of these locations. A third company would then act as the equipment owner in both cases and would then be paid a lease payment for the use of said equipment.

Another option would be for the merger of the Edson and Fort companies with the inclusion of an additional two commercial bays in the Fort location. Sound expert advice will be required for this development.

Edson Car Wash: Construction continues. Sumps and in slab piping is currently underway. Floor pour is expected in two stages during the week of April 18-25 2006. Operational date has moved to mid-June 2006.

Urban Market: Research continues. More focus required.

On the horizon:

West Edmonton Industrial Strip Center: Our development with the Truck Parts supplier has enlarged to some degree and now consists of a total building foot print of 18,500 square feet with most bays measuring 25' wide x 100' long. Leases for upto 10,000 square feet are being sought to add value and further develop the site. Preliminary drawings should be available by week's end.

Commercial Strip Center: A potential has arisen for a commercial strip center near a soon-to-be boom town. Several major projects are slated for the area and should they proceed the land values are expected to double virtually overnight. Cashflow analysis is still somewhat weak as their are virtually no comparables in the marketplace and the cost to construct at this point is somewhat higher than expected due to the increased labor costs.

Construction on such a development would not occur until a minimum number of the homes in the area are built and the other developments slated - Truck stop and Hotel are completed. However, a multi-unit apartment project has been approved in the area across the street from this development. In excess of 150 units are expected to be built over the next while.

Rural Multi-Family: A design has been chosen and approximate costs estimated for this development. Active pursuit of a site to facilitate the 36 unit complex in several boomtowns with underground parking and mid-level finishes throughout is underway. Each unit measures 1100 sft, has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and in 2004/05 retailed for $175-$200,000 in Camrose. Similar developments are occuring in a host of Alberta cities.

Active research in this area will be the primary hope of locating adequate land for construction. The primary focus at this time is adequate corporate structure to ensure maxmium return and financing in all projects.

Well, here's to the future and all it holds.