The phone is ringing at Ottawa developer Avenue 31, which is continuing to move forward with projects across Eastern Ontario which will eventually comprise millions of square feet of development.

Its largest site under development is Camino, a 680-acre property along Highway 401 west of Cornwall, where Avenue 31 is beginning sitework. Eventually, that inland port-style site could house 5.5 million square feet of industrial uses.

Avenue 31 is also developing a combined indoor and outdoor office, commercial space and storage facility in the city’s east end; building new space and adding tenants at its National Capital Business Park; and working to rezone a property in the west end.

“Every site is moving along,” Avenue 31’s director of business development Ryan Semple told RENX. “It’s always nice when there is one building under development and we are moving ahead on the others, so that is exciting.”

While the industrial market has slowed from the frenetic pace seen in recent years, Semple said Eastern Ontario continues to experience demand. Some is from growing local companies, while outside firms see it as desirable area for regional expansion or as a midpoint between major markets - including Toronto, Montreal and the U.S. border - the latter despite recent trade tensions between Canada and the U.S.

“I think it’s a bit of the same old story for Ottawa,” Semple said, noting the region’s industrial vacancy has remained stable around two per cent, while leasing rates continue to rise. “The phones are ringing, the tenants are touring, we have an active market.”

Avenue 31 was founded in 2016 under the leadership of president and CEO Michel Pilon. It has an 850-acre development pipeline with an estimated building value of over $1 billion.

The 680-acre Camino property

Avenue 31’s most ambitious project is Camino near Long Sault, Ont., not far from the Quebec border, and from U.S. border crossings. It contains 510 developable acres of land on the 680-acre site.

In addition to two kilometres of frontage along Hwy. 401, which connects Montreal to Toronto and Southern Ontario, it also offers three kilometres of railway frontage. The property is about an hour south of Ottawa.

Semple told RENX “we have had inbound calls” from potential tenants, so the firm wants everything in place to be able to get shovels in the ground quickly.

“The project is draft plan approved, we have completed all our studies - MTO (transportation), ecological, servicing, zoning, all that stuff. It is zoned for heavy industrial use, so I’d say we are 90 per cent complete with the approvals,” Semple said. 

There is also a completed design to accommodate road and rail access, the required infrastructure and buildings ranging from 200,000 square feet to 800,000 square feet. 

During 2025, Semple said the focus will be on site servicing, including an internal road, laying granulars, hydro infrastructure and other basic needs.

“When a user shows up, everything seems to change so we’re happy where we are at this stage, but we are (also) happy to advance the site and get it closer to shovel ready,” he said. Should a tenant commit to Camino, Semple said he believes a building could be ready for occupancy by late 2026 or early 2027.

Ottawa property development and leasing

In Ottawa, Avenue 31 is constructing its fourth building at the National Capital Business Park along Hwy. 417. The 200,000-square-foot building is the largest so far at the property, which will comprise about 1.1 million square feet of space at full buildout.

The three existing buildings are almost fully leased, with just one 38,000-square-foot end unit remaining available. Avenue 31 filled two other vacancies in those buildings in the fall.

It started construction on the new building only after securing a pre-lease for 120,000 square feet of the space, which is to be delivered in October.

“There’s a lot of inbound calls that we have been receiving,” Semple said. “We’ve had site visits every day this week, active tenants in the market, some coming in from the Province of Quebec.”

The park still has space for two additional buildings of approximately 200,000 square feet apiece, as well as a 45,000-square-foot crossdock facility. Avenue 31 is in talks with a potential tenant for the crossdock.

A few kilometres east along Boundary Road, adjacent to a million-square-foot Amazon distribution centre, Avenue 31 is developing a building and outdoor industrial storage facility for IAAI, an auto salvage and auction operation owned by Ritchie Brothers. The firm has signed a 20-year lease for the 38-acre site and will move in from a smaller nearby property later this year.

Finally, Avenue 31 is moving to rezone property along Moodie Drive near Fallowfield Road in west Ottawa, near the community of Barrhaven. The 30-acre site offers proximity to quarries and other light industrial uses in the area, as well as Hwy. 416 which connects Ottawa to the Hwy. 401 corridor.

“It’s obviously growing down in that node. We like the land, we like the site. It’s close proximity to the highway, like all our sites,” Semple said. “There’s not a lot of industrial development in the area. There have been land positions taken on the other side of the 416, but there has not been development to date.”