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Leith Dunick
Stefan Larson
Old met new in Thunder Bay on Monday.
Citing burgeoning activity on the city’s waterfront, a vibrant downtown and access to other technologically minded companies in the area, Tornado Medical Systems CEO Stefan Larson said choosing the historic, 97-year-old Whalen Building was a no-brainer when looking for a home for his leading-edge medical imaging research company.
It’s the latest step in fulfilling Community Economic Development Commission CEO Steve Demmings vision for the 10-storey, north-core building, constructed by James Whalen and first known as the Commercial Exchange Building Company of Port Arthur.
Demmings called Tornado Medical Systems the catalyst that he expects will drive plenty of traffic to his doorstep over the next three or four years, thanks in part to $1 million in renovations paid for through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation.
"It is a world-class client. It’s going to employ highly educated people. It’s exactly what we want to do in terms of diversifying (the city’s) economy," Demmings said, after officially introducing the company – expected to move in next year when renovations are complete – to its new location.
Convincing them to choose the Whalen Building wasn’t a tough sell, he added. It was a natural fit.
"When I saw the space that their parent company occupied in Toronto, it was a mirror of the Whalen Building. It’s a heritage building, located in an emerging entertainment district, with big open floors. It was an ideal use for this building and certainly (they) saw this opportunity."
Larson said it was Demmings’s vision that convinced him to ink the deal at the building, the city’s first high-rise, which was constructed with concrete and steel and faced with terra cotta relief sculptures that subtly proclaim its Canadian heritage.
"I immediately recognized that this was the kind of facility that would help us attract that kind of world-class talent," Larson said. "It’s really because what (Demmings) wants to do with this building is create suites that are newly renovated, that are attractive, that make use of the waterfront views that we have here, which is a huge selling point for the top talent we’re trying to attract. It also allows us to develop out the space exactly how we need it to do the kind of research and product development we need to do."
Larson said his company plans to take the walls throughout the 7,000 square foot space they’ve leased back to the studs and build out from there, adding cubicles and collaboration rooms for its software development team, hardware engineering labs that will occupy a third of the sixth floor, and office space.
The age of the building was of little concern, Larson added, despite the modern nature of what he plans to do there.
"We’ve looked into all the things, like the mechanical systems, the electrical systems, the data networking and all the things we would need and we’re comfortable that it’s either here or can be fairly easily retrofitted," Larson said.
Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute CEO Michael Power said the choice of locations is a smart one that reflects similar efforts in larger centres like Toronto, Vancouver and San Francisco and should meet the varied needs of future employees.
"There tends to be a bit of a Bohemian lifestyle where scientists and PhDs and post-docs and graduate students work all hours of the day and all hours of the night and certainly weekends. So access to restaurants and access to lifestyle and walking trails was important to them," Power said. "If you go into the greater downtown Toronto area, around Richmond Street, around University Avenue, not only will you find the big academic hospitals, but you’ll see a lot of start-up imaging companies because of those opportunities. It’s not just access to the MRI, it’s access to all of the other lifestyle amenities."
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