City Sells Industrial Lands to Northern Cables for Additional Production Facility

Brockville – At their regular council meeting on Tuesday night, Brockville City Council approved the bylaw to transition/sell two parcels of lands on Crocker Crescent in the John Broome Industrial Park to Northern Cables.

Northern Cables has purchased approximately 18 acres of vacant employment land for plans to build a new production facility, a minimum 100,000-square-foot production facility within the next five years. It will eventually add 50 jobs. Northern Cables is a local Canadian-owned and Operated Wire and Cable Manufacturer, specializing in armoured cables, copper and aluminum. Their head office and Industrial facility are in Brockville along with a Commercial Facility in Brockville and a Wire Mill in Prescott.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Brockville’s homegrown success story, Northern Cables Inc. on the sale of a new parcel in the John Broome Industrial Park where they will eventually establish their third facility to produce a specialty medium-density cable.” said Mayor Matt Wren “The city is excited about this growth opportunity and was eager to collaborate as a supportive partner with Northern Cables.”

In March 2023, Shelley Bacon, the CEO of Northern Cables, contacted city staff regarding property on Crocker Crescent. Northern Cables was looking for a site for a new production facility and required 15 to 20 acres of land which could accommodate a building up to 700 feet long.

In a city staff report it said they identified two parcels of city-owned lands on Crocker Cres that have a privately owned driveway between them. This driveway appears to not be in use. Amalgamating these two City-owned parcels and acquiring the driveway would provide a site of approximately 18 acres which would be sufficient size to accommodate the proposed new facility.

At the end of March 2023, Council gave staff direction to negotiate the sale of two parcels of land on Crocker Cres to Northern Cables. In April 2023 the owner of the private driveway confirmed with Northern Cables that they would be prepared to agree on the acquisition of the driveway.

In June 2023 Northern Cables provided staff with a draft Agreement for Purchase and Sale and offered the City $50,000 per acre for the two city parcels. At a closed session, Council agreed to Northern Cable’s offer of $50,000 per acre.

From July 2023 through to February 2024 staff and Northern Cables negotiated on several conditions included in the draft Agreement, such as the removal of fill and debris from the former City snow dump on Crocker Crescent; and conditions concerning environmental investigations.

In March 2024 Northern Cables provided a final Agreement of Purchase and Sale which Council approved. This offer was conditional on Northern Cables agreeing concerning the driveway.

On Tuesday, September 12, 2024, all conditions in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale were met and the transaction was closed.