Waterfront Development Front-Runners
By John Swartz
The City of Orillia announced today the results of the Request For Qualifications phase to re-develop the 70 Front Street North plaza and surrounding properties.
Three companies made the cut. They are Amico Properties, Fram Building Group, and TPI Acquisitions (Tibal).
Amico Properties is a division of Amico Adaptive Synergies, owned by Dominic Amicone with offices in Oldcastle (Tecumseh), Cambridge and Vaughn. The parent company is involved in projects ranging from roads (Herb Grey Parkway, Windsor) to bridges (Gordie Howe International Bridge, Windsor); light rail (Waterloo Light Rail Transit); medical facilities (Barrie Primary Care Campus) and residential developments in Amherstburg, LaSalle and Kingsville, Ontario.
Fram Building Group is based in Mississauga and owned by the Giannone family. They have numerous condo developments in the GTA and built the 157 unit The Shipyards in Collingwood. Last March the company pulled out of a redevelopment plan for Wasaga beach’s downtown.
TPI Acquisitions (Tribal) is local. Lance Trumble is the managing director of Tribal Partners Inc. the parent company. Tribal is the company which proposed to build a wellness/recreation center at 174 West Street South (FLD Smidth) in 2015, and an expansion to include a new OPP station. The company has been involved in many large projects including the Omni Hotel in Dallas and the Bow in Calgary.
The qualification process set out 12 principals the City wanted developers to incorporate, and an interview process with the waterfront development group, selection team, the project consultants Deloitte and developers was part of the
The three companies are invited to submit plans from the City’s Request for Proposals process. The RFP documents are still in development and will be released during the summer. The site is 12 acres comprised of the shopping center, the former rail lands, and other small, contiguous, municipally owned parcels.
For more information about the waterfront development project visit the City’s website.
(Images Supplied)
