BCBusiness

SOURCES: LoopNet; Canadian federation of Independent Business; Vancouver Island University; City of Nanaimo; Nanaimo Port Authority jULY/AUGUST 2018 BCBusiness 47 SHIPPING The Duke Point container terminal, which in recent years received $4.5 million worth of upgrades, handles more than 5 million tonnes of cargo annually–a 130-percent increase over 2010, making it the top growth port in Canada REAL ESTATE Commercial lease rates are 1/2 -2/3 lower than in Vancouver BUSINESS CLIMATE In 2015, Nanaimo jumped from 54 to 29 in the Canadian federation of Independent Business's annual ranking of cities with the best environments for entrepreneurs TECHNOLOGY The local tech sector employs about 3,100 people, a 15% increase from 2012 Commercial Street, which winds through Nanai- mo's historic downtown. The core, where homeless- ness and poverty collide with the Vancouver Island Convention Centre, art galleries and boutique shops, still has the gritty edge of a port city. Until October's municipal election, it's a case of grin and bear it for companies like Inuktun Services, a designer and manufacturer of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). This understated Nanaimo tech out€t employs 60 people in Canada and the U.S. Custom- ers worldwide use its robots to perform search-and- rescue operations, survey pipelines for damage, inspect the radioactive innards of nuclear power plants—and even shoot big-budget reality TV shows. Los Angeles–based Gurney Productions recently rented one of Inuktun's specialized inspection cam- eras to €lm an episode of the series Shark Week. "They needed a robust HD camera, and we were able to provide an o'-the-shelf model," says Inuktun CEO Colin Dobell. As for the noise from city hall, Dobell is frank: "I think the city in€ghting diminishes Nanaimo's repu- tation overall, which can have a negative e'ect on recruiting talent, or even on customer and investor perceptions." Beyond the Nanaimo bubble But in some ways, Nanaimo is selling itself—by default. Lifestyle and a'ordability are big draws. Like elsewhere on Vancouver Island, the local real estate market has been hot, with the average price of a single-family home surging 16 percent year-over- year to nearly $540,000 as of April, according to the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. But for anyone used to Vancouver's seven-€gure listings, Nanaimo's commercial and residential property is a bargain. Add the seaside setting, hiking, biking and other recreational amenities, and the city starts to shine, especially given the dišculty some Lower Main- land companies often face recruiting and retain- ing young employees in a perennially super-heated housing market. When Kent Flint, chief operating ošcer at Real Estate Webmasters (REW), €rst came to Nanaimo in 2013 to visit his retired parents, he fell in love with Vancouver Island, he says. So Flint left a suc- cessful career in the Ottawa tech sector and moved west with his wife and three children. In early 2016 he joined REW, which has a sta' of 150 spread between a three-building campus in Nanaimo and a The Nanaimo Factor A few reasons why the Harbour City is making waves –A.F. ACCESS Connected to Vancouver by the Departure Bay and Duke Point ferry terminals, plus several daily float plane flights to Coal Harbour. In june the regional airport started offering direct Air Canada flights between Nanaimo and Toronto EDUCATION Vancouver Island University (VIU) occupies a hillside campus in the city's south- west. This growing post-secondary institution has some 17,000 students, including 2,100 international learners

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