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Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc.
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See ya, Bud. Hello Canada Life Place?
Another new name could be in the works for London’s marquee arena. Under a new proposal from the Oak View Group (OVG, operators of the city-owned arena), Budweiser Gardens would be renamed Canada Life Place. Council is set to vote on the proposal later this month. “Canada Life has called London home for 150 years, and we’re excited about this opportunity to build on our shared history,” said Canada Life’s COO Fabrice Morin. Tom Pistore, president of OVG Canada, said that “as a company with deep roots in London, Canada Life shares our dedication in supporting the community.” Labatt’s current 10-year naming rights agreement is set to end next month, though they are staying on as the alcohol partner at the arena until at least 2031.
The upshot: Since the arena’s inception, it’s been a Labatt name on the sign (the arena opened as the John Labatt Centre in 2002 and was changed to Budweiser Gardens in 2012), so this really is a new era being ushered in. A city staff report suggests that it was Labatt which chose not to exercise its right of first negotiations, prompting OVG to start looking elsewhere. The deal being proposed is another 10-year term, meaning the new name would be in place at least until 2034. And while exact amount of the proposed deal with Canada Life has not yet been disclosed, city staff reports the arrangement will be good for the bottom line. “Separating out the naming rights and the pouring rights into two separate agreements has resulted in a positive financial impact of a 49.5 percent increase of revenue related to naming and pouring of the venue over the term of both contracts,” staff concluded.
Read more: City of London | Newswire
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Leavens Automotive Group acquires Forest City Mazda
The Forest City Mazda auto dealership on Wharncliffe Road South has been sold to the Leavens Automotive Group and will henceforth be known as Leavens Forest City Mazda, the owners announced this week. The dealership is being purchased from Saskatchewan-based FFUN Group, owned by Mark Loeppky, and sold to Chris Leavens, owner of the Leavens Automotive Group. “It was a perfect fit pairing Mark and Chris together, as Chris wanted to expand his dealership offerings in the London area and Mark wanted to involve someone who focused on the same community outreach efforts as he did,” said Gordie Gerbrandt, VP of the Tim Lamb Group, which brokered the deal between the two. “Gordie found us an opportunity no one else could in our local market,” said Leavens.
The upshot: From the sounds of it, the deal worked well for both parties: the FFUN Group appears intent on concentrating on its Western Canada base, while Leavens has been looking to expand here in town. The acquisition means both of London’s Mazda dealerships now fly the Leavens banner ― this acquisition joins the existing Leavens Mazda on Auto Mall Avenue by the airport. The move comes a couple years after Leavens shed two dealerships ― Porsche of London and Audi Windsor ― in 2022. At the time, Leavens had expressed some uncertainty about the future of auto retailing, telling Automotive News Canada that he “thought maybe it was a good time to remove a couple of the more valuable assets.” The new acquisition brings Leavens’ portfolio to seven dealerships across Southwestern Ontario.
Read more: Automotive News Canada
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UniFirst opens new uniform service and processing facility
American uniform service provider UniFirst Corporation celebrated the grand opening of its new uniform service and processing facility at 2365 Innovation Drive this week. At 56,000 square feet, the company said the plant is “equipped with advanced processing technology designed to optimize the quality and efficiency of uniform cleaning, maintenance and delivery.” UniFirst expects the new facility will serve “nearly 2,000” businesses across Southwestern Ontario. “We are thrilled to open our new facility in London, Ontario, which will allow us to better serve our customers in this region,” said company president Steven Sintros.
The upshot: On top of some dapper new duds, the plant is also expected to bring about 80 jobs to the city. And given the growth trajectory of the region’s industrial and manufacturing sectors, the London Economic Development Corp.’s Kapil Lakhotia said the opening is indicative of the kind of spin-off investment the city can expect to see more of. “The newly built UniFirst facility is a shining example of the multiplier effect that comes from growing our primary industries,” Lakhotia told The London Free Press. “As several new food-and-beverage processing and advanced manufacturing companies have landed in our region, it has created a ripple effect of new investments from suppliers and service providers.”
Read more: Newswire | London Free Press
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The Grove lands cash injection to support agricultural robotics development
The Western Fair Association (WFA) and its agri-business hub, The Grove, are set to receive $2.4 million in federal and provincial funding aimed at supporting new agricultural robotics technology. The funding is being provided through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, and the WFA said it will “support the adoption of sustainable systems by supporting applied research to test robotics and technologies at the commercial field level.” The WFA will be working with its AgRobotics Working Group, which includes the input of London-based RHA Ventures, an agriculturally-focused investment firm, and Bothwell-based robotics firm Haggerty AgRobotics. “The goal of this project is to ground-truth many of the agrobotics products that are coming to market,” said the WFA’s CEO Reg Ash, “with a goal of reducing risk for the individual farmer who is looking to adopt these technologies.”
The upshot: It is still early days for agrobotic technologies and there are only a handful of farms in North America where robotic and autonomous farm equipment are being deployed on a regular basis. But Chuck Baresich, head of Haggarty AgRobotics, told CTV News London that he expects that to change rapidly as farmers become familiar with the technology coming to market. Also working in its favour is a tightening up of temporary foreign worker rules, expected to be a new challenge for farms especially. “In the specialty crops, the vegetables, the orchard space, I think we’re going to see 50 per cent adoption very, very quickly, like under 10 years,” Baresich said. “The labour challenges are only going to get worse.”
Read more: CTV News London | RHA Ventures
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Fewer Londoners working from home
One in five workers in London is working from home the majority of the time, according to recent figures from Statistics Canada. The stats compared May 2024 with years earlier. Overall, London’s WFH rate is down roughly five per cent from its May 2021 peak, when 24.5 per cent of workers were working from home, and way up from the pre-pandemic average of six per cent remote work. Among the 15 largest Canadian cities, London is 11th when it comes to the proportion of those working from home, though that probably owes more to London’s particular employment makeup (healthcare, manufacturing, education) than anything else.
The upshot: Given the extra, extra special kind of hell London commuters have been dealing with this week, it’s kinda surprising all of us aren’t permanently hunkering down at the homestead. Nonetheless, if there were betting markets on this sort of thing, the smart money would probably have WFH rates hovering around 20 per cent for the foreseeable future. Job posting in tech and other white-collar sectors continue to offer the ability to work from home, at least some of the time (it’s more of an expectation for younger workers to be able to work in a hybrid fashion), while at the same time enthusiasm for strict RTO mandates has waned, with only four per cent of CEOs now saying it is a priority to bring their employees back into the office full-time.
Read more: StatCan
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New funding and mentorship program looks to grow city’s music tourism offerings
Tourism London is launching a new mentorship and grant program to foster the music tourism sector in town, the organization announced this week. Open to businesses, nonprofits and community groups in the area, “the London UNESCO City of Music ‘Spark’ Program will match selected applicants with a mentor and provide $5,000 in seed funds to help bring their new music tourism ideas to life,” said Tourism London. “As Canada’s UNESCO City of Music, we continue to explore opportunities to develop and grow the local music sector in London,” said Cory Crossman, London Music Office director. “We are now incubating music tourism programs that will enhance London’s global music identity and further build London into a thriving arts hub.”
The upshot: Yup, we were all scratching our collective heads a few years back when London was named Canada’s first UNESCO City of Music (you mean this London, right?). But kudos where and when it is due: the city’s arts and tourism sectors have certainly made the most of the designation, and this is the latest addition to a steady flow of programs and events that have contributed substantially on both the cultural and tourism fronts. “There is no better time to invest in new music tourism opportunities that will attract both domestic and international guests,” said Tourism London’s Natalie Wakabayashi. “We’re looking forward to the unique and authentic experiences and ideas that may come from this initiative.”
Read more: Tourism London
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Dispatch: September 13, 2024
A summary of recent business appointments and announcements, plus event listings for the upcoming week.
View listings here
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