While many Windsorites remain negative about the city's future prospects for economic revival, a pair of out-of-town investors are bullish on the city and have put some serious money on the table.

 

Since selling his Barrie-based automotive business to a former business partner, Ken Handerson and his son Sean have invested about $2.5 million in two Windsor properties - a 23-unit apartment building at 2870 Tecumseh Rd. W. and Venture Place, a commercial building on the city's east side.

 

"Quite simply, we believe in Windsor and its prospects for future growth," Ken Handerson said. "The price points are certainly attractive and the potential remains strong.

 

"We heard all the clichés about how Windsor's an automotive town and how people should stay away from investing here but the more negative comments we heard, the more convinced we were that it was the right place to put our money."

 

The Handersons scoured some real estate websites before finally settling on an apartment building on the west side for their first investment in December 2008.

 

After some renovations, the building is now fully occupied in a city where the apartment vacancy rate hovers around 15 per cent.

 

Emboldened by that success, they bought Venture Place, a commercial building also in need of renovations.

 

Since last May, they've fixed the roof, painted the exterior and interior, replaced the landscaping, installed a roof garden and eliminated a few hundred square feet of rentable space on the second floor and built a public lounge overlooking the roof garden.

 

"We wanted to make the place somewhere where our tenants would enjoy working and where their customers and clients would enjoy coming," Sean Handerson said. "Being a property owner is no different than running any other business - you have to add value to keep and attract tenants."

 

Current tenants include Windsor Women's Fitness, Roseville Gardens Walk-in Clinic, chiropractor Julie Boscariol, Roseville Pharmacy and Medical Laboratories of Windsor.

 

"We're optimistic about Windsor's prospects, otherwise we wouldn't be here," Handerson said. "Windsor has mild winters, a long growing season, access to a major city across the river, great parks and a beautiful waterfront. We like what we see, the opportunities are immense and we're sold on being here."

 

Handerson said his experience in the automotive industry has taught him that recessions are cyclical and that economies will rebound in time.

 

"The bottom line," Sean Handerson said, "is that we're ignoring all the doom and gloom and looking beyond all that negativity. Our investments are long-term.

 

"We've bought two solid structures with lots of surrounding traffic and the fact both needed a lot of work didn't deter us."

 

Article Credit:

Dave Hall

The Windsor Star