Barrie - Revitalization by our friends in Real Estate - Pulis Investment Group

Congrats to our friends, the Pulis' for having this vision and making a difference to our downtown Barrie core! Here's an article in this weeks Barrie Examiner

Property owner breathes life back into downtown building

Kyle Pulis, of Pulis Investment Group, stands near a the Mulcaster Street building that hit the headlines last fall as being captured in a painting by Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris. The Pulis Group ‘rehabilitated’ the building, one of a number of properties that they have worked on in Barrie and Orillia. J.T. MCVEIGH/BARRIE EXAMINER

Something is different on Mulcaster Street.

Ignored for years except for the occasional visit from a police officer or two, the red brick walk up in Barrie’s downtown has pretty well stayed off of the radar.

That is until a couple of year’s ago when a 23-year-old named Kyle Pulis, from Brampton, took a look inside and saw promise.

The last time that happened was over a century ago when some artist named Harris stuck an easel across the road and painted a moment in time.

Group of Seven founder Lawren Harris’ A Street in Barrie made it to Sotheby’s Auction House in Toronto a couple of weeks ago, and although the painting wasn’t sold, director of Sotheby’s, David Silcox, estimated that at some point the painting should fetch somewhere between $900,000 and $1.2 million.

Pulis, of Pulis Investment Group, didn’t know about the painting or the auction, but he did know the property.

“Going through these old units really reminded me of the trips to New York where they took the old buildings and were able to turn them into high-end apartments, the same with areas of Toronto,” said Pulis.

And from there a plan was formed.

It wasn’t without its challenges.

Although a great deal of the old trim work, crown moldings, and even solid hardwood floors were in restorable shape, there was still a lot of work to do.

“So when I can into this here, I was 23. When I bought it, and this was my fourth project that year, even my agent thought that I was crazy when I bought this.”

However after conferring with his team of contractors, Pulis got the thumbs up and work began.

Pulis’ founded his investment company with his father David, creating a private investment group whose clients want to invest in real estate in some way, but either don’t have the time or the expertise to tackle a project.

Clients are very much interested in niche investing, and they are looking for profit, but with a conscience.

“They (clients) are really drawn into that idea of revitalizing part of the downtown,” said Pulis, “They are investors that keep a profit in mind, but they also want to be a part of cleaning up the downtown.”

For Hany Kirolos, director of the Economic Development Office for the city of Barrie, this is nothing but good news.

“Any rejuvenation in our city core that is within our zoning requirements, and results in either residential or business traffic, is great for a city centre revitalization,” said Kirolos.

Having private investors take a stake in the city’s downtown can have an enormous impact on the nature of a neighbourhood.

“The best example of this is Yonge and Dundas in Toronto where 20 years ago it was a derelict area with closed shops. Now it has become a mini Times Square changing the focal point to culture, to business and residential space,” Kirolos said.

Transitions aren’t easy, but the rewards are pretty high.

“We have a lot of projects like this in Hamilton and it’s the same thing there; the neighbours come out and say thank you. It is really good to be part of the revitalization of places like downtown Barrie,” said Pulis.

He knows that he is dealing with a niche market, people who want the convenience of modern construction, but enjoy the warmth a century building exudes.

“Here, what I found is that because the tenants are all from pretty much the same demographic, that they create a community, he said “They are all really into the building, excited to hear about the history. Then they fall in love with the story, they fall in love with the neighbours and they really fall in love with the building.”

Pulis believes more opportunities like this are available. He has seen that with his project in both Barrie and Orillia.

Granted they are costly, but with willing investors and a skilled contractor work force, he feels the heritage of a neighbourhood can be saved.

“I know they (Barrie) are doing a lot of work, like cleaning up the waterfront, bringing people back into the downtown, building condos,” Pulis said,

“They are doing their part, so it’s not hard to see business owners and property owners along the strip here, doing our part.”

Downtown Barrie - Future of Bayview Park

Not long after city council discussed the possible sale of a section of Bayview Park for a downtown development, some graffiti has been added to the property along Dunlop Street. J.T.MCVEIGH/BARRIE EXAMINER/QMI AGENCY

Bayview Park’s future could be determined Monday. 

Coun. Lynn Strachan will ask city councillors to consider rezoning the Dunlop Street East park to open space at the general committee meeting.

This could diminish, or even end, the park’s involvement with a proposed condo project at Mulcaster and Dunlop streets.

Bayview Park isn’t zoned open space, like most Barrie parkland, but for C1-1 commercial use.

City planning director Stephen Naylor says 155 Dunlop St. E. was zoned open space in 2000 when a hand-drawn map was produced on polyester film/plastic sheet.

But in 2002 when this map was digitized, the zoning changed to commercial — without a specific council motion.

Barrie’s zoning bylaw has been updated with this change and approved by council.

It’s zoning was never a particular concern until the Pier Village proposal was introduced last fall, with Bayview Park an important part.

An 11-storey condo/commercial development is proposed there with 98 residential units, almost 19,000 square feet of commercial space and 148 underground parking spots where Hooters Restaurant, Macs, Simply Tea & Chocolate, Solve — Investigative Group and Vibration Fitness now stand.

Property owner John Trecapelli wants to buy the nearest piece of Bayview Park for $600,000 and use it for his development. The park’s C1-1 zoning allows the condo project.

Trecapelli has said this project requires the use of Bayview Park, for either parking or density, to be viable.

Changing its zoning back to open space wouldn’t eliminate the possibility, but it would return its planning to square-one. If council passes Strachan’ motion, there would be a public meeting on rezoning Bayview Park to open space. If that rezoning is approved, it would have to be rezoned again to allow for any commercial/residential development — necessitating another public meeting. Bob Bruton

Barrie - Jobs - Hinduja Global Solutions considering setting up call centre in Barrie

Come springtime, a few hundred Barrie-area people looking for work could be celebrating.

It will be a few weeks yet before job seekers at the Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) job fair at the Southshore Centre find out if they’ve found employment.

The company is considering setting up a call centre in Barrie for incoming customer service calls for telecommunications, financial and tech support firms. It is not a telemarketing company.

HGS Canada has opened three sites in Ontario in the past two years: Thunder Bay in 2010, North Bay in early 2011 and Belleville in the summer of 2012. If it decides to locate another facility in Barrie, it will be the sixth in the province and the 10th in Canada.

Kathy Follett-Lloyd, of HGS, said more than 2,000 applications were received online and more than 1,000 job seekers attended the job fair on Friday and Saturday.

Deciding whether or not HGS locates to Barrie will take some time, she added.

“The decision making-process will take us at least 30 to 60 days as we analyze the resumes and investigate possible locations for a centre,” she said Monday.

Hany Kirolos, the city’s director of economic development, said interest in the job fair was outstanding.

“Advance applications broke all previous records for similar exercises in other cities by HGS. The two-day in person job fair showing was also very strong,” he said.

“As an inbound call centre, it is part of the data warehousing value chain emerging as a huge cluster for the City of Barrie,” he said. “We will continue to work with HGS through their process and assist wherever we can to ensure we win this business.”

If that win comes to pass, it can only mean good things for Barrie, Kirolos said.

“Five hundred jobs from a single company, an in-bound call centre that’s going to train, a good brand name recognized for its excellence and promoting from within, all speak to why it’s so important — in any job market — to get this business,” he said. “It reinforces Barrie as a great place to do business for those considering to establish (or relocate) a new business

like HGS and its magnitude of investment.”

Kirolos said getting all the players involved in trying to secure HGS highlights the advantages of working to together.

“From the mayor and council, our MP and MPP, regional economic development departments and employment agencies: all got the word out, and it paid off,” he said.

The job application portal at www.joinhgs.com will remain open for several weeks to come to give all those who could not attend the job fair an opportunity to apply.