Broccolini has purchased a 622-acre industrial tract in southwest Ontario, which was formerly host to a Ford assembly plant. The vast site has been idle since the plant closed in 2011, but is strategically located near the city of St. Thomas in Elgin County with proximity to Ontario’s 400 series highway network and the north shore of Lake Erie.

“Broccolini intends to renew the area’s legacy by redeveloping these lands and introducing new uses that reflect the modern industrial real estate landscape,” advises James Beach, vice president of real estate development with the construction are real estate company. “We are honoured and excited to take stewardship of this iconic industrial land, which for many decades was home to one of the largest automotive assembly plants in the country.”

With the sale, one of the largest available tracts of industrially zoned land in Canada comes off the market. It was officially listed in the spring of 2019 with an asking price in excess of $26 million. That followed a failed proposal from solar power producers earlier in the decade.

The new owner has now begun preparatory work, including grading and soil decontamination, in advance of redevelopment.

“I am very proud to have worked with the various municipal partners to obtain the provincial approvals in environment, transportation and energy, in order to see this deal finalized,” states Jeff Yurek, the local member of provincial parliament for Elgin-Middlesex-London and Ontario’s former Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.