While many developers would be getting antsy about a two-year delay on a $275-million project, Geoffrey Campbell seems to take it all in stride.
The managing partner for the Oro Station Automotive Innovation Park, located directly across from the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport on Line 7 in Oro-Medonte, and halfway between Barrie and Orillia, talks about rising interest rates (“it’s a cycle”), delays (“they’re inevitable”) and pitching ideas (“you’re crazy”) in measured, pragmatic terms.
“If we were keeping the same pace as pre-pandemic, we would have been open in 2023,” Campbell said during an interview at his office with what seems like endless rain pouring down outside. “As it stands now, we’ll be 24 to 28 months behind our original intended opening.”
Over the next several months, he says the construction team will continue grading and underground servicing work. At the same time, the design team has started phase two of the servicing design, including detailed infrastructure planning for each of the future tenants.
Looking at the artist’s rendering, it’s not hard to understand the excitement: A slick, twisty, bendy racetrack surrounded by a village of hip, modern buildings, home to everything that makes motoring exciting.
When you’re standing in the rain on a mountain of dirt in the middle of the development, however, it’s hard to imagine the world’s sexiest cars tearing up the track that’s being built around you.
You have to look past the numerous lakes that have sprung up in places they’re not supposed to be — the result of one of the wettest summers in recent memory.
Look past the crippling pandemic that brought the world to a virtual standstill.
Look past rising interest rates, inflation and an uncertain economy.
Look past today and tomorrow and into the future — to a place where the automobile, innovation and passion intersect.
“It takes new, innovative ideas to drive the economy forward,” Campbell said. “Throughout this whole project, the challenge has been to get people to understand the vision, how it works, the ecosystem and how it’s all connected.”
Campbell is quick to recommend curious folks visit one of his inspirations: Silverstone in the U.K.
During the week, he said, Silverstone is a hub for automotive professionals and services — oil-changing shops, brake shops, classic car restorers and the like. On weekends, the facility becomes a hub for motor enthusiasts of all stripes — Porsche clubs, Mustang clubs, EV clubs, Bug clubs. The list is endless.
The Oro Station he envisions is all that, and more.
The 300-acre complex will feature 500,000 square feet of industrial space — more than half of which is said to be already booked — dedicated to automotive research, engineering and development, including a $15-million, 4.1-kilometre motorsport track.
The motor circuit is the first in North America and the third in the world to receive FIA (Federation Internationale d’Automobile) environmental accreditation.
The facility will be home to the Bexley motor club — “a home and community for car lovers; thoughtful collectors, meticulous restorers, obsessive tinkerers and the disciples of speed.”
A successful Bexley motor club will be one of the keys to success.
“The same way that an art gallery has benefactors, their participation (Bexley motor club) creates a foundation for the education and innovation companies in several ways,” Campbell said.
He explained that by bringing in that private group, which will have places on site to store their cars, the owners now have the benefit of having on-site services — mechanics, maintenance — directly on their own property.
“But more importantly,” Campbell added, “our tenants, the companies that are here will have the benefit of on-site customers.”
Oro Station will also be an education incubator, having secured a commitment from Georgian College earlier this summer to begin planning for future academic programming opportunities, including those outside of its Automotive Business School of Canada.
“Education is vital to any growing and burgeoning industry,” said Campbell. “While we will be working very closely with the automotive business school, there are a host of opportunities for other occupations — electrical engineering, innovation technology, even a gaming group.
“In fact, we had a team of students out here earlier this week with a drone doing aerial mapping.”
