At the present time, there are three major industrial parks within CBRM: Sydport; Cossitt Heights; and Northside, each is shown on Figure 5.1. There is also a small industrial park in the Glace Bay area. The following paragraphs provide a summary of each park.

Sydport Industrial Park. The Sydport facility is located directly opposite the harbour mouth from the SYSCO lands. Originally built as a military complex for the Navy, the site was converted to an industrial park by DEVCO in 1969. Sydport incorporates 600 acres of land, of which 240 have been serviced. Of the three existing industrial parks in CBRM, Sydport is the only one that has ocean access.

The wharf at Sydport consists of a main jetty, an inner quay and an outer quay that comprise 4,180 feet (1274 m) of berthing space. Water depths range from 20 to 38 feet (6.1 - 11 m) at low tide. The park is fully serviced with road, power and with nearly half serviced with sewer and water. In 1999, Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation (ECBC), sold Sydport to Laurentian Energy Group. Under the terms of the purchase and sale agreement, ECBC provided a mortgage for the purchase of the property, which will be forgiven within three years as new businesses locate to the facility and jobs are created.

Laurentian’s strategy with the property is to target it as a fabrication facility for the offshore; however, as of the date of this report, there has not been a large amount of economic activity in the Park. Serviced land is for sale at Sydport in the $25,000 to $32,500 per acre range.

Northside Industrial Park. The Northside Industrial Park straddles the former towns of North Sydney and Sydney Mines. It was built in the early 1980’s by a joint industrial commission comprised of these two communities with financial assistance of the Province of Nova Scotia.

The park includes 470 acres of land, with almost half of this land serviced with roads, sewer and water. The Park has direct access to a 100 series highway, but no access to the harbour. Land sales boomed in the Northside park during the 1980’s in response to a government tax credit program, which induced a number of companies to move into the area. Large existing tenants include: Tesma International; East Coast Rope Ltd.. In general this park has a reputation for providing high quality manufacturing jobs. Serviced land is listed at $15,000 to $20,000 per acre.

Cossitt Heights Industrial Park. The Cossitt Heights Industrial Park is located in the former City of Sydney, just inside Highway 125 between the Ashby neighborhood and Welton Street. Cossitt Heights is a relatively small industrial park (120 acres) that built on a number of existing distribution businesses located on Upper Prince Street (Westburne, Harris and Roome, the Sears Distribution Centre, Sparkling Springs, etc). Of this total, just over 80 acres of land was serviced with road, water and sewer.

The industrial park master plan called for the construction of a new interchange from Highway 125, which was never built. The estimated cost of this improvement ($4 million) is more than twice the market value of the land available for sale 82 acres @ $25,000 per acre equals $2.0 million), making its future construction unlikely. Although several lots have been sold at Cossitt Heights recently, the vast majority of this land remains serviced yet unsold.

Glace Bay Industrial Park. There is also a small industrial park in the former Town of Glace Bay. To date there has been very little development. The Glace Bay park does not play a significant role in any on-going economic development activity within the CBRM.

Summary of CBRM Industrial Parks

The following table summarizes the total supply of industrial land in CBRM; the data from the Glace Bay park has not been included. Currently, there is approximately 1,200 acres of land set aside for industrial use within CBRM. Of this total, roughly 45% or 528 acres have been serviced with roads, sewer and water. As of December 2001, 368 acres of land have been sold, with most of this activity split between the Sydport and the Northside parks.