February 2017 | Business View Magazine

200 201 Brockville, Ontario with over 100 century-old shipwrecks and artifacts scattered along the river bottom. In 2013, Brockville opened its new anchor attraction– the Aquatarium– a $21 million tourist and educa- tional facility aligned with the Tall Ships, hous- ing exhibits and sea life displays. In addition, the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail runs through- out the region for biking and hiking, and kay- aking on the St. Lawrence is another popular tourist lure. “We’re opening, as well, Canada’s first railway tunnel, which goes right under the community,” Paul adds. “And that’s going to be another tourism attraction that will add to the tourism product offerings of the community.” As a result of increased tourism and today’s generally healthy economy, Brockville’s downtown is undergoing a major resurgence. “The downtown is the historic part of the community; that’s where the waterfront is and there’s been a lot of focus on the downtown in terms of revitalization,” says Paul. “Most of our incentive offer- ings for redevelopment are associated with the downtown.We have a five-year tax holiday on incremental assessment increases financing that gives you a break on your taxes.We have a lot of very unique buildings and architec- ture, so we have a façade improvement program.We’ve put about $15 million into our streets, our lighting, our land- scaping, and our parks in the downtown area.We’ve gone through a complete waterfront plan–new docking and marine facilities. And we’re seeing a change in the types of businesses there - more bistros and pubs and