Business is booming for the construction industry in Kingsville, billed as the southernmost town in all of Canada. According to the town’s mayor, construction projects in 2019 totalled $165 million, with 427 permits being issued.
That’s double the activity that occurred in 2018, which came in at $80.8 million, Mayor Nelson Santos said recently at the Leamington Chamber of Commerce annual Mayor’s breakfast. Having the needed infrastructure in place was key to driving the construction boom, according to the mayor.
One such project, the Kingsville Transmission Reinforcement Pipeline Project, was completed last year. The $105.7 million project “brings more natural gas to the fast-growing greenhouse market in the Leamington and Kingsville area, as well as provides affordable natural gas to residents and businesses in Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and surrounding areas,” said Steven Jelich, Enbridge Gas Director of Southwest Region Operations.
The project involved construction of a new 19-km natural gas transmission pipeline in the towns of Lakeshore and Kingsville, in the county of Essex. Construction began earlier in 2019.
Some quick facts about construction projects in Kingsville:
- The town welcomed 109 new dwelling units in 2019, with a value of $48.2-million. According to the mayor, the value of the projects have soared even though the number of building permits have been relatively the same over the past three years
- The value of new greenhouse construction projects came in around $73 million, partly because of two greenhouse for medical marihuana. The cost of building such facilities is more than that for traditional greenhouses
- Development fees raised $1.3 million for the municipality, close to being a record according to the mayor. Those fees go to paying for parks, and other infrastructure projects.