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On market for less than a month, Sutherland site snapped up by new owner

Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corp. received multiple offers for the former e-commerce facility at 71 Old Garden River Road
2019-07-02 Sutherland Building DH
Surrounded by a 3.7-acre lot, this 30,000-square-foot building will be the new home of Northshore Sports and Auto Inc. David Helwig/SooToday

James Caicco, broker of record at Century 21 Choice Realty Inc., sees it as a welcome sign of confidence in the Sault's commercial real estate sector.

Hardly one month after Caicco listed Sutherland Global Services's vacated e-commerce building at 71 Old Garden River Rd., the 3.7-acre property has been snapped up as the new home of a boat and power-sports retailer.

Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corp., which built the former call centre for Sutherland 15 years ago, has accepted a purchase offer from Northshore Sports and Auto Inc.

EDC received multiple offers to buy the property.

And Northshore already has a conditional offer on its current location at 647 MacDonald Ave. from Long & McQuade, Canada's biggest music store.

"Commercial activity has really picked up," Caicco tells SooToday.

"I haven't seen this amount of interest in commercial real estate in the last four years," he says.

Ryan Rocchetta, who owns Northshore with his brother Jordan, expects to take possession of 71 Old Garden River Rd. on July 31.

He hopes to start operations there by the end of October, or sometime in November.

"That's a dream of ours," he tells SooToday. "We want to make it a regional hot spot. It's going to be a power-sports supercentre."

Northshore has already come a long, long way since the brothers set up shop 11 years ago in the trailer beside the local traffic-death statistics sign at Bruce and Wellington.

"People come here from Wawa and Chapleau. They spend their week here just to get a machine from us. They stay at the hotels and they stock up with groceries."

Rocchetta loves all the added interior and exterior space he'll have at the new location.

"Instead of walking a mile past machines in boxes or looking at a catalogue, it's going to be somewhere where you can see everything in front of you – pontoon boats, fishing boats, utility boats."

"It's going to be somewhere you can see everything in front of you."

"Every day, we're selling dreams. They dream about having this boat and it goes a long way when you can touch and feel it."

The brothers currently have 15 employees.

They're planning to add five to 10 more staff at the new location, doubling sales within two years.

They're also planning to add some new product lines, especially trailers and off-road and on-road motorcycles.

Last month, EDC executive director Dan Hollingsworth told SooToday that his organization had worked with Sutherland over the past several years to boost employee recruitment and retention.

"It is our understanding that the model has evolved and Sutherland's approach in Canada has changed."

"We have worked with Sutherland to extend the lease agreement for the past couple of years as they have been a great business partner with the EDC and in the community," Hollingsworth said.

"Sutherland informed us in early 2019 that they would not be renewing another term and the lease terminates this fall. We then explored other client options for this facility but our board of directors has determined that it is best to place the asset for sale."


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David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
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