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The Harry W, Diffin Industrial Park is the City of Welland's largest industrial park. The neighbourhood boundaries are loosely delineated by East Main Street to the north, Townline Tunnel Road to the south, Doan’s Ridge Road to the east and the Welland Canal to the west. The King’s Highway 140 traverses the area in a north/south direction as does the Welland Canal to the west.
Surrounding Area
The area surrounding the park includes a mix of agricultural and light industrial use properties. Most of the industrial/commercial properties are found on Highway 140, Ridge Road or Buchner Road areas. The low-density residential properties are sparse and are generally found on agricultural properties.
Transportation access and locational advantage
This industrial park hosts the King’s Highway 140 running down the centre, which connects East Main Street in Welland to the North and Highway 3 in Port Colborne to the south. This access provides excellent regional transportation to both Welland and Port Colborne. As well, the Townline Tunnel to the south connects east/west off Highway 140 to the south end of Welland. Municipally, Highway 140 to East Main Street links to Highway 406, which is a gateway to the rest of the Niagara Region and then further into the Greater Toronto Area.
Growth in the area
This area is considered to be of modest growth. The most major developments being Power Blades (2013), which is a producer of wind turbine blades. The company has taken over the former Welland Pipe plant at 615 Rusholme Road. There is also a new building under construction at 316 Enterprise Drive to house the future Northern Gold Foods manufacturing building. Also, Welded Tube was built in 2010 at 191 Ridge Road, which creates tubing products for distribution across North America.
The local Welland community has supported their desire for growth by prompting the government to make practical investments in infrastructure, such as the widening of the 406 highway, in order to be an attractive candidate for future industrial growth. The loss of several major manufacturing jobs throughout the region over the past decade, has led the city to offer incentive programming in order to attract newl small to mid-size industrial companies. By offering a variety of tax and grant-based incentive programs to investors, land within the park is not only affordable, but also attractive.
Connect with a Niagara real estate appraiser to determine land opportunities in Welland. For more information about industrial parks in Niagara, read my previous blogs on the North End Industrial Park and Fort Erie or click below to receive an industrial sector market review for the Niagara Region.
