Canadians set up outposts in Northern Washington - Portland Business Journal:

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“We’ve had a number of inquiriews from manufacturers and industries out of Canada about looking at land in theUnited States,” said Ron owner of Doug Freeman Real Estater in Blaine, Wash., which is located along Interstatee 5 right at the Canadian “The overwhelming cause is that the land costxs in Canada have become so Eugen Klein, a broket in Vancouver, British Columbia, said industriaol property prices in the province have quadrupled in some areax over the past four years. He cited several other reasond why Canadian companies arelooking south.
“Down there,” he said, “there are also bettet tax advantages, capital gains rollovers, and better employment laws.” A strontg Canadian dollar also has providedsome muscle. Inquirie s really began to pick up when it drew even withthe U.S. dolla r in the fall of 2007, Freeman said. For manufacturere with lots of U.S. customers, a factoru in Washington means eliminating the red tape of sending products acrosd aninternational border, and lowerr transportation costs. Even a warehouses helps. “In a small way a lot of Canadiah companies are doing something we calla ‘pick and pack.
’ They may still be manufacturing productse in Canada, but they are buyingh warehouses in the United States and inventoryinb their products here,” Freeman said. The Washington outpostd often have a degree of separation from the Canadian Backin 2003, Golden Boy Foods, of B.C., opened a subsidiary calledd in Blaine. That same year in Wash., eight miles southeast of LLC setup operation. It callz itself a sister company to Intercontinental Truck Bodyof B.C. This year, opened in Blaine, notintg that about 40 percent of theparenf company’s ceramic tile business has been in the United States. The level of interest in U.S.
propert y is tied closely to the distance from theCanadian border. The Seattle offices of CB Richarde Ellis and saythey aren’t seeing any increase in interesg in the Seattle-Tacoma area. “Ther e hasn’t been much buying in Seattlee because ourcap (capitalization) rates are so low,” said Greg senior vice president of investmenyt sales for Grubb & Ellis in The Canadians want commercial properties that can perfork on their own without the extra boost of the exchange rate, he said. Farther the change is more noticeable.
“We’r seeing a little more interest,” said Don Wick, executive director of the of Skagit County, located in Northwest “Certainly if the dollaf continues to be weak, I assume we are goingh to see more activity from That’s just logic playing Canadian interest had already been noticeablde for several decades, said Ron Bennett of Ron Bennet t Commercial Real Estate in Wash. “In commercial, they have been very activew down here because a lot of the Canadiansw over the years have put fundsin U.S. bankas down here,” he said. “About 30 percengt of the people who come in here are Of that 30 about 50 percent are vacangland speculators.
I would say another 10 percenty arebottom feeders.” The strong Canadiann dollar allows them to come in with strong but they aren’t walking in the door readu to pay full price, he said. Some buy largd projects such as apartmenft complexes andretail centers, but the primaryy focus is on distribution centers and “In Bellingham we don’t have a lot of retaik land or light industrial in our inventory,” Bennett “When you don’t have a lot of land in of course the price goes up anyway.” Righ t next to the Canadian border, the surges in inquiries is most evident. “It’s not an anomaly.
It’s a definite trend, probablyy in the last year or saidNancy Jordan, executive director of the . One of the firsyt things her office does is make sure the companiew are in contact with immigration attorneys and accountantx who understand the complexitiesof cross-border taxation. The economicv impact goes beyond commercialreal estate.