The opportunities are just endless

At the Fort Frances council meeting on Monday night, we saw the first decisions of Resolute to begin divesting themselves of property here in town.
The town, in acquiring the old Dr. Boyle property on Mowat Avenue, now will have a means of connecting the back alley that runs behind the businesses on the south side of the 200 block of Scott street from Portage to Mowat.
It was a good decision of council to acquire this property for a nominal amount of money.
The town also acquired the former Shevlin wood yard that extends from Scott Street to the river. It is about 25 acres in size and one can expect the incoming council to begin looking at plans to make this area a community focal point.
I can expect that public meetings and consultations will take place in making the decisions about its future. The property eventually should accommodate recreation, housing, and commercial uses.
That aside, there are many more properties owned by Resolute in Fort Frances that will be coming on the market and creating new opportunities for businesses.
The mill-in-the-park dream once put forward by Marty O’Brien now will be a plan of paper only. The property assembled by Boise Cascade and now owned by Resolute also will hit the real estate market.
The property includes the park-like area between First Street East and Second Street East bordering Central Avenue.
The parking lots that today exist where the Irwin Hotel once stood, and the lots on the south side of First Street East, also will be made available. Those parking lots are considered commercial space in the town’s official plan.
One can look at the Resolute office complex on Mowat Avenue and wonder if some group will come forward to turn the existing building into a professional office building that would house a great number of different professions.
Similarly, one can look at the mill office on Third Street West that overlooks the canal and the dam and see the potential to re-purpose that building.
Eventually when the mill is torn down and the property is opened up that borders both the upper and lower river, other potential developments will have to be considered by the town council.
The opportunities are endless. The new council will have to consider how it may assist Resolute in disposing of these properties and look at private investment to acquire and develop them.
These decisions will be the foundations to change the current focus of the economy of the community, and build a new and more vibrant one for the future of the community and the district.