Since 2000
At the end of 2000, my partner, Edward Ozog, and I moved from a downtown Toronto loft condo to a farm 100 km west, half way between Hamilton and Brantford. The idea for the move was that we would eventually open a nursery specializing in Canadian roses. We have spent the last couple of years learning about Canadian roses and creating approximately 2 acres of display gardens. In the last while I have personally been doing the promotion for The First All-Canadian Rose Show. It was the success of this show, both on radio and in print, which inspired me to create these websites, gardentoronto.ca, gardenwriters.ca and gardenradio.ca.
In the spring of 2007, something strange started happening. Realestate agents started coming up our driveway making unsolicited offers on the farm. Each offer was better than the last. It turned out that large “Land Banking” companies such as Walton International Group were buying up farms like ours, all situated between highways #2 and #403. At first we thought they were putting together a large parcel for a parts plant or some other big industry. With further investigation we have come to believe that we are situated in the centre of a future transportation hub. With the projected growth of the province, and the current highways running at capacity, two new routes are now under consideration, The Niagara-GTA Transportation Corridor and The Brantford-Cambridge Transportation Corridor. The Niagara-GTA transportation corridor will relieve the congestion on the QEW between Niagara and Hamilton. It will likely connect to the 403 just a few kilometers east of here. The Brantford-Cambridge transport corridor (Highway #424) will create a safer more efficient route between highways 403 and 401. This will not only help Brantford’s economy but will also encourage the growth of the High tech industry in Waterloo. The province owns 20 acres of land adjacent to our farm for a future entrance to the highway. Surveyors were there last summer and we think that is the most likely entrance to the 424.
After much consideration, we listed the farm. If we sell we plan to buy another farm. If we don’t sell, we can “Land Bank” just as well as any other investor. Land is not like housing - the value, especially when it’s commutable to a major urban centre and has the potential for development, only goes up.
2010 Update:
In August of 2008 we got the offer we had been waiting for and we signed it back. Unfortunately, before the deal could close the economic crash happened. Our purchaser could no longer get his financing.
So we continue to wait. The Province is going to be releasing it's plans in the fall of 2010 so I expect the offers to start coming again shortly before that happens.
Mark Disero
