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Page 6, Thursday, November 18th, 1971, WHITBY FREE PRESS WHITBY'S 'HOPKIN'S CENTRE THE ACTION CENTRE' - by Kim Armitage 'Action Breeds Action'! That's the Hopkins Centre, Whitby 's phenominal l ysuccessful new multi- tenant Business and Industrial Mall. Acti on - plus the faith of a group of Whitby business men in their towns fut- ur e, and the Whitby Town Council, ail making it happen on the two-way street ofco-operation. Hopkins Centre, loca- ted on Hopkins Street, is the show- place, cornerstoneof the Whitby Indus- t rail Park. Phase One, Building A, of the $16, 000, 000 project was opened in Septemberofthisyear, 15 months ahead of sche du le, with six tenants already settled in their new custom designed quarters. The only prestige indust industrial park between Toronto & Montreal "Ilt'sthe only prestige industrial park between Toronto and Montreal,I" claims industrial Commissioner Wes Winters. "Butwestill have the lowest land prices in the Toronto-centred region. " And w i t h M e t r o industrial 1 and seliing as high as $ 6500 per acre, Whitby has en- tered the competi t ion-for-indus try race with bargain-basement prices of $7000 to $15000 per acre. When completed the multi-tenant of- fice, industrial and warehousing group- ingof Hopkirts Centre will contain 200, 000 square feet, leaving a major portion of the Whitby Industrial Park Site be- t w e en h i g h ways 401 and 2 for further develi opment. In December 1970, when al i systems were offici ail y "Go" for the Hopk ins Cen- tre p r o j ect, Mayor Des Newman said, "This is something we've been trying to get fora long time. There's been a sub- stantial need for closed-in-space. This i n dustrial mail will provide the oppor- tunity to lease the amount of space re- q u i r e d as w e il as room to expand as business grows. " Hopkin's Centre, A boon to sina businesses & industries Of the same school of thought as New- man - 'Let's go after it and get it done' - i s the Industrial Commissioner Wes Winters, ebullient, energeticand artic- u I a te. "In the past the town has had to t ur n away prospective businesses be- c au se t h er ewasno spacefor them. H opk ins C en tréè, because of its ex- t re meliy flexible interior design, can a cocommodate a variety of needs. it's a b o o n t o smalli businesse s and indus- tries. "' It's leasing From the beginning it's been Winters job t o sell the Hopkins Centre complex t o pr os p ective clients, as well as to find those clients. And how do you sell some emp ty fiel ds to someone ? "You don't ", snor ts W in ter s. "You'd Whitby Industrial Commissioner, Wes Winters of Frank Real Estate, are Whitby bus- iness men who were willing to put their faith in the Town and this type of mall on the line, and to then get involved in e v e r y w a y to help make it work. The Hopkins Centre will function as a cata- lyst to stimulate more development in the Industrial Park. When a potential client s e e s w hat we have to offer, he starts t h i n k i n g and asking - "These are my n e e ds. What can be worked out for my business ? " Hopkins Centre is the show-piece of th e mall and can pretty well sell itself in any company. But no one is more consciou s of the fact than Winters, th a t unless the right parties are made aware of it's e x is t e nce leasing hopes will evaporate. 'Spread the word' "And you do that by adverti sing, pro- motion and spreading the word. " He dis- plays a handsomeWhitby Industrial Com- mission Brochure, a colourful Hopkins Centre Folder, and a series of follow- up pamphlets and press releases. "We must not only be competitive in ou r buildings and services, but very much so in our advertising and promot- ions. Our material must be the kind that w.i I 1 STOP on a businessman's desk, & stay there until he h a s time to read it; NOT go straight into the waste file. The fol low-ups must be different, eye-catch- i n g, curiousity-provoking. Attention- g e tters with just enough information to remind him of what has gone before and to want him 1like to know more. The r ight p e ople have to be reached with these - those in industry, business, industrial real tors, pl anners. " 15 months ahead of schedule As to the progress of Hopkins - the Action Centre, Winters says, "Building Awas started in April of this year, the tenants started to move in about August, construction was completed in Septem- ber , and it's fully leased now. "And, h e a dd s w i th a g r i n "that's fifteen months ahead of schedule. Building C o n s t ruction of Building B started im m e d iately. Completion of the entire Hopkins Centre project is scheduled for w i t h in t h r e e years of it's beginning. The r et s something BIG coming up for Building B - very soon!" In the completed Building A, tenants Ferrco Engineering, the Deeth Group, Co - St eel International, Variety Pro- ducts Sales, Joe the Plumber and Kool- rad are the pioneer six. As the Industrial Commissioner would say of the Hopkins Centre multi-tenant Industrial Mali - "Action breeds action. " Next week - Iroquois Park fact or fiction? b e t ter h a ve something better to show .y our client, than his portion of 28, 000 square feet of scrub land! " The principal ingredientof a successful, multi-tenant industrial mall is to get the prospective tenant t o come and look - see what you have to offer. That's why it was so vit- ally important to have Phase 1, Building Aconstructed. lt's been done on a com- p 1 e t e 1ly speculative basis. Mr. W. D. Smith, our developer, Ron Deeth of Mel-Ron Construction, and Bill Baldwin Hopkins Centre has come a long way since the happy day of the sod turning in photo above. Left to right: Wes Winters, Whitby Industrial Commissioner, Ron Deeth,, Project Developer, & Mayor Desmond Newman.