McMaster announces plans for new campus in Burlington

School to have a major business presence

BURLINGTON — On Jan. 26, 2006 Professor Paul Bates, Dean of the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, announced that McMaster’s highly respected school of business is growing into Burlington.

The commitment, made by Dean Bates, is a significant step forward in the development of a McMaster campus in Burlington. These new elements of the business school promise to make the Burlington campus a prestigious and attractive location for students from across Canada and around the world.

The new building will provide approximately 130,000 square feet of academic and administrative space.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed on Oct. 3, 2006 between the City of Burlington and McMaster University to set out the next steps in bringing a campus to Burlington. The MOU proposes that the new campus be constructed at the corner of Elizabeth and Pine Street, in downtown Burlington. The new building, which will demonstrate architectural excellence, will provide approximately 130,000 square feet of academic and administrative space to accommodate the programs of the new McMaster University Burlington Campus.

Campus will focus on programs offered by the DeGroote School of Business

The campus will focus on programs offered by the DeGroote School of Business that could include a Master of Business Administration, Doctorate of Business Administration and Executive Diplomas. Additional space is envisioned for a Family Medical Learning Centre. McMaster anticipates the Burlington campus will house between 3,000 to 5,000 students within 15 to 20 years. In the initial first few years of campus operation, there will be 500 to 1,000 students. It is also anticipated that students will be able to enroll in Burlington campus programs starting in September 2007, but classes will be held at the Hamilton campus until the Burlington facility is ready, which could be as early as 2008.

SIGN OF THE TIMES: The MOU proposes that the new McMaster campus be constructed at the corner of Elizabeth and Pine Street, in downtown Burlington.

Alternate Choice unveils new image

BY DENIS GIBBONS The Business Executive

BURLINGTON — A Burlington company that deals in office work stations and furniture is getting a new lease on life.

The new image branding at Alternate Choice Inc. involves a huge new sign which clearly identifies the range of products sold, a new company logo, new advertising on trucks, redevelopment of its web site and bonding with Tayco Inc., a respected manufacturer of new furniture.

Alternate Choice was established in 1989 to sell used office furniture. It evolved to remanufactured furniture and now has gone into new furniture. In fact, 60 percent of its current business now is in new furniture.

A long-time player in the office furniture industry, Tayco is a recognized leader in telemarketing floor plan and furniture design.

Valerie Cassar, who is in charge of business development for Alternate Choice, is happy the company can now offer customers a choice.

“Sometimes they just can’t find the used product they’re looking for or sometimes they buy a mixture of used and new,” she said.

With a lot of businesses downsizing in the early 1990s, Alternate Choice founder Gary Kirkwood found a lot work stations and office furniture, still in good condition, on the market and started to buy them.

With a vast inventory of pre-owned work station panels, Alternate Choice has now become the largest remanufacturer in the Golden Horseshoe supplying custom office systems with recycled components. It has about 7,000 panels, capable of becoming part of remanufactured work stations, in inventory at all times.

Alternate Choice has experts who will design complete office layouts for customers and then custom build workstations to fit the layout.

Buyers can save as much as 50 percent by purchasing quality office work stations, completely refurbished to their specifications.

Kirkwood has been in the office furniture industry for 34 years.

One of the company’s major clients is the financial services giant AIC, which is owned by Michael Lee Chin, and has its offices in Burlington. When Chin purchased the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica, Alternate Choice also started supplying the bank and now work stations are sent to the island.

The company also filled an order recently for the office of the federal government’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters on Burlington Bay.

Alternate Choice has 27 employees working under one roof in its building, which covers about 36,000 square feet.

It’s located at 3325 North Service Road in Burlington. TBE

SIGN CHANGE: Alternate Choice founder and president Gary Kirkwood is dwarfed by his new company sign just prior to it being installed at the Burlington location. Photo by Denis Gibbons.

City of Woodstock welcomes Growth of Aisin Canada Inc.

WOODSTOCK—The City of Woodstock recently welcomed the official announcement by Aisin Canada Inc. of its plans to construct additional manufacturing space and introduce new product in Southwestern Ontario.

As part of its expansion plans Aisin Canada will maintain its head office and current production facility in Woodstock while constructing a new manufacturing plant in Stratford, Ontario. The Woodstock facility and its current employees will continue to manufacture manual operated seats, belt moldings and other body related components while the new facility will manufacture door frames for supply to the new Toyota Motor Manufacturing facility currently under construction in Woodstock.

Administration and overall management of the new facility will be handled through the Woodstock head office. “This investment follows a similar pattern to that of the operations in Japan whereby a number of Aisin facilities build specific components for specific vehicles and customers. This business model has allowed Aisin to be very focused on their manufacturing processes and has enabled them to maintain the high quality levels demanded by their customers,” said Len Magyar, Development Commissioner for the City of Woodstock.

Mayor Michael Harding was pleased to learn of the expansion plans by Aisin. “While the new plant is in a neighbouring community it is refreshing to know that this investment will also help to secure the employment of the head office positions here in Woodstock. We have known all along that the spin off from the new Toyota Manufacturing assembly plant in Woodstock will have a profound positive impact on investment throughout Southwestern Ontario.”

“It is encouraging to see one of our Southwestern Ontario Marketing Alliance (SOMA) partners capture this investment,” said Magyar. Representatives of SOMA (including Woodstock) traveled to Japan earlier this year in an effort to raise the profile of the area as an ideal location for new direct investment from Japan. The investment initiative included meetings with Canadian embassy staff and Ontario government representatives in Tokyo, coupled with attendance at the Japanese Society of Automotive Engineers (JSAE) trade show in Yokohama. In addition, specific meetings were held with a variety of automotive companies based in Japan aimed at both securing relations with existing Japanese based companies and meeting with firms who may have been considering new facilities.

REITs excluded from Income Trust tax

TORONTO — The vast majority of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) will be excluded from the recent announcement from the federal government that a tax will be levied on Income Trusts. REALpac is pleased that the Canadian REIT vehicle is to be excluded from the scope of the new tax.

The government’s announcement amounts to a redefinition of the Canadian REIT, effective 2011. A small number of Canadian REITs with active business components or significant foreign real estate holdings may have to make modifications to comply with the new rules. With a 4-year transition until the rules come into effect, it is expected that Canadian REITs will have plenty of time to make the necessary structural and business modifications to bring themselves onside.

Finance’s rationale for exempting REITs states, “This exception from the specified investment flow-through measures recognizes the unique history and role of collective real estate investment vehicles.”

Thanks to REITs, smaller investors can participate in the ownership of big ticket real estate and reap the benefits of stability, growth and diversification on the same tax efficient basis as wealthy individuals.