Economy

Peace River Economic Overview

Peace River is a town of approximately 6,500 people located in north-central Alberta. It is the major trading area north of Grande Prairie.

In an economic development case study commissioned by the Town of Peace River dated January 15, 2011. Among other things, this report makes the following statements:

"It is difficult to put a number on the potential economic benefit of multiple mega projects to the Town of Peace River. Based on the Fort McMurray example, if one or more of the pending projects move forward, the town will see doubling and redoubling of population, increasing pressure on infrastructure, increased demand for housing and dramatic increase in mobile workforce. More significant than evaluating the economic impact is planning to support the growth and providing support to the proponents in order to achieve the potential economic benefit."

"Repeatedly in researching all of the business cases, the issue of housing cropped up. For the success of any of these business cases, housing is a necessary condition that needs to be fulfilled. Housing is required to ensure that youth, immigrants and seniors are attracted to and are willing to reside within Peace River. At this time, Peace River's housing stock is limited. While there is availability of single-family homes, it is specifically limited in multi-storied condominiums and apartment buildings. It is noted that youth and seniors are typically attracted to those properties that have a lower level of involvement – i.e. gardening and maintenance – to ensure that they are able to focus on their career aspirations and quality of life respectively.

As a critical component of the business cases, it is our recommendation that the Town of Peace River initiates a dialogue with developers and landowners with a goal to establishing at least 300-450 new multi-family housing units – i.e. condominiums/apartment buildings – with approximately one-third each to senior housing, affordable housing for youth and immigrants and one-third for the open market. This development should be integrated with the downtown revitalization to ensure pedestrian-friendly communities, access to suggested business attraction and incubation efforts and the opportunity to infuse the vitality of the hospitality and retail sector on the eastern bank of Peace River."

There is talk of a "northern corridor", linking Peace River to Fort McMurray to include pipelines, power, and highway access. The Citadel Park property is well positioned to benefit from the potential for huge growth generated by currently proposed industrial projects.

Market Position for Citadel Park Sites

Citadel Park is uniquely positioned in the most advantageous location for new housing developments in Peace River. The site benefits from:

• River valley views
• Close proximity to downtown and main highways
• Excellent access to west-side commercial amenities
• Abundant park and recreational spaces nearby
• Ready access to cost efficient servicing

One of Citadel Park's strongest marketing assets is its superior location relative to other residential developments in town. Strategically, Citadel Park has the preferential location. It is expected that buyers will prefer Citadel Park to the other two developments on the strength of the advantages listed above.

Because of the unusual geology of Peace River, land for residential development is in surprisingly short supply. The east bank of the river has been fully built up in the lower valley. The upper bench on the east side of the river is well outside the town limits and development is not feasible due to extremely unstable soil conditions.

In West Peace River, land is developable on the uppermost bench in the industrial and commercial corridor area. This is the location of Saddleback Ridge. In the area of Citadel Park, there is limited land supply squeezed between the river and Misty Mountain. The only available developable land is more remotely located in the area of Shaftebury Estates.

We believe that the Citadel Park site is by far the most attractive in terms of location and site attributes. The lack of competitive locations in Peace River should give Citadel Park an excellent marketing advantage.