When AMJ Campbell Van Lines came to Calgary, it had a few employees, a few thousand square feet of space and no corporate customers.
Twenty-two years later, it has 135 employees working on corporate moving alone.
Last week, it opened its new premises by Opus Building Corp. in Deerfoot Business Park, with 100,000 sq. ft. of warehouse behind the offices. Dennis O’Neill, vice-president and general manager in Calgary, says AMJ Campbell is now the No. 1 office mover in Calgary. Its moves run from one-person offices up to the TransCanada PipeLines move, the largest corporate move in Calgary’s history.
It’s also first in household moves and second in international moves in Calgary. International moves, by the way, require oceans. Moves between Canada and the United States are merely cross-border.
 |
| AMJ Campbell has moved into new premises provided for them by Opus Building Corporation in Deerfoot Business Park. |
And why does anyone need 100,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space, you ask?
Storage is the invisible part of the moving industry. Most people think moving is about two guys with a truck, loading their stuff and taking it to the new place across town or across the nation. But a lot of material has to be stored before it is moved. Warehouse staff are involved in packing and unpacking your precious possessions for international moves and in building the crates in which they are sent.
The cardboard boxes are heavier for international moves. They add protection to the other layers between your belongings and the rolling of a merchant ship. The wooden crates for international shipment are metal-strapped and plastic-wrapped when they’re ready to go.
Crates needed for all kinds of moves are built at the warehouse so they’ll fit, especially for items such as glass or marble table tops. O’Neill figures that if a $50 crate prevents a $1,000 customer loss claim, it’s a $950 saving.
It’s an industry that’s also becoming more sophisticated, with GPS systems in all the trucks that can locate them within half a block at any time.
Until a couple of years ago, Calgary was the destination for 90 per cent of all the moves involving the city, with only 10 per cent leaving Cowtown. It’s still 65-35 or 70-30, but with economic resurgence in Eastern and Central Canada, there are more moves from Calgary to Ontario and the Maritimes.
O’Neill adds that it’s good to see the whole province booming. Edmonton’s hot and Red Deer is taking off.
Two major banks, the CIBC and the National Bank of Canada, cut rates last week on some mortgage products, by amounts up to a quarter of a percent.
Both banks’ mortgages for less than two years were listed as unchanged. Two-year closed mortgages were listed at 7.05 per cent, down .10 per cent, and at the other end of the range, 10-year closed mortgages were listed at 8.55 per cent, down .25 per cent. The changes took effect May 24.
One of Canada’s biggest commercial property managers has increased its share of the downtown retail market with the purchase of Scotia Centre.
Oxford Properties Group now owns the building at 700 2nd St. S.W. in partnership with the Bank of Nova Scotia. Oxford already owns the nearby TD Square and Eaton Centre retail properties. In those cases, it has different ownership partners, says Brad Krizan, a leasing manager with the firm.
Scotia Centre has 475,000 sq. ft. of office space, with 90,000 sq. ft. vacant, spread through the building. Packages could range from 2,000 sq. ft. to 39,000 sq. ft. on three floors. The structure allows for efficient multi-tenant floors, with lobby exposure, he says.
An agreement with the Bow Valley Parkade has boosted the parking ratio to one stall for 2,500 sq. ft., notes Krizan.
Oxford owns many of its properties in partnership with a range of corporate and institutional investors, with Oxford acting as manager of the buildings. It has extensive office holdings in Eau Claire and the financial core farther south and is the second biggest downtown landlord, after Brookfield Properties.
Panasonic takes possession Friday of its new wireless design centre in Deerfoot Business Park Phase II.
The company will occupy 56,000 sq. ft. in a building by Remington Development Corp.
Staff at the facility will design part of the software protocol stacks that make wireless phones work. There will be just over 50 people at first, says Terri Lenci, manager of business operations.
The building itself totals just over 80,000 sq. ft. and has parking for 280 vehicles.
Web Watch:
www.amjcampbell.com
www.obc.com
www.oxfordproperties.com
