Two contenders left for Oshawa marina
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
And then there were two.
Following a lengthy process, and an attempt to draw international attention around developing a public marina at the Oshawa harbour, the city is now left with a pair of detailed applications, both of which have methods for making that vision a reality.
The city is now in possession of proposals from the Oshawa Farewell Marina Consortium, a conglomerate of local business owners who have retained the Biglieri Group to create a detailed proposal, and a company by the name of Charming Panda Technology Inc.
The consortium is made up of a trio of individuals: Harold Hough, the president of the Pickering Harbour company; Barry Pettit, the CEO of Pettit Inc; and Stephen Richardson, the managing director of Richardson Workboat.
Both companies expressed interest to develop the marina originally, along with two other companies who have backed out of the process.
In their original correspondence with the city in response to a request for expressions of interest, the Biglieri Group, who most recently managed the expansion of the Oshawa Centre, proposed a large scale reworking of the harbour, including the potential of bringing in a residential developer to focus on the lands north of Harbour Road.
Their original proposal planned to expand the size of the marina and its facilities with the hopes of facilitating large-scale events such as festivals and concerts. The plans also envisioned creating options for year-round use of the facilities.
The competing company, Charming Panda Technology Inc., in their initial correspondence, noted they planned to build and operate the marina with funds from various companies in China. However, the names of the two respective companies are redacted from the city report.
Their expression of interest plans a large scale expansion of the number of slips at the Oshawa Harbour, growing from 166 slips at the start with a $6-million investment in the first year, then growing to 300 with an additional $5 million, and finally boosting to 420 slips and the addition of a yacht club, rental entertainment centre, motel and restaurant for an additional $4.5 million.
Now, both companies have submitted more detailed proposals and business plans to the city, the details of which have yet to be shared. Following a motion from council during its regular meeting, a consultant is being retained, with a budget of $30,000, to rake through the proposals to see which would be the most favourable.
For Paul Ralph, the city’s commissioner of development services, bringing in a hired expert makes the most sense.
“Staff are not business experts in the marina business,” he says. “We all want the marina to be a success and we want to make sure that we’re the best informed.”
While an official timeline has not been set, Ralph hopes that the review of the applications can be finished by the end of this year.