ORO-MEDONTE, ONT. -- A ribbon-cutting ceremony at Oro Station on Thursday marked the official ground-breaking of a new 200-acre Automotive Innovation Park.
"We have over 700-thousand square feet in total of buildings on-site. Five-hundred-thousand square feet of that is designed for industrial use in terms of mechanical and performance shops, research and development labs," said Geoffrey Campbell, managing partner of Oakleigh Developments. "It's a very large project for the region," he added.
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The massive project is located directly across the street from the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport in Oro-Medonte and could also house a motorsport track for private and commercial use, as well as training and research.
The province says 100,000 people are directly or indirectly employed in the automotive sector in Ontario.
This facility is expected to create more than 700 full-time jobs and 1,800 construction jobs.
"We see this as one of the first steps in building this area in terms of an economic driver, attracting business, attracting employment opportunities for the residents of Simcoe County," expressed County Warden George Cornell.
The site buildings are expected to be open in 2021.
