Saint John: She’s A Brick…House
This sponsored content is from Enterprise Saint John. Submitted content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Huddle.
The road to naming and marketing the Port City’s knowledge cluster.
Part of the mandate of Enterprise Saint John (ESJ) is to promote Saint John to businesses looking to set up shop in a new city.
Simply put, it’s their job to make sure Saint John is on the list for consideration.
Steve Carson, CEO of Enterprise Saint John, says he’s often asked about the attributes the city has to offer.
“In particular, businesses want to know if we have a knowledge park in Saint John,” says Carson. “The answer was always ‘no…but we have a cluster of knowledge industries in our urban core’.”
Carson began mulling over a new way of talking about this cluster of industries – a way that would give him and the team at ESJ a powerful new answer to that same question.
“In the summer of 2015 we realized we should stop apologizing for not having a traditional knowledge park, sitting in a farmer’s field outside town. Those knowledge parks are disconnected from other companies, and more importantly, disconnected from key services and amenities,” says Carson.
“We started testing the idea that Saint John’s knowledge park was different – it was an organic cluster of businesses located in our heritage district uptown – surrounded and supported by all the great things we love about working in a city. We called our idea the Heritage Knowledge Park.”
The heritage angle is a big seller. David Thomas, Investment Attraction Officer at ESJ, notices the impact Saint John’s heritage properties have on prospective business owners every time he tours one through the uptown area.
“Their eyes light up when they see the heritage office spaces available here, and learn how affordable they are, compared to other centres like Toronto, Boston and San Francisco – where brick and beam architecture comes at a premium,” says Thomas.
The heritage knowledge park idea was taking off – and so ESJ took the next step in Spring 2016, developing a brand for the cluster, and a website to celebrate the participants and highlight the benefits of co-locating there.
“We chose the name Brick Park for our knowledge cluster because it was catchy and memorable, but also because it puts the emphasis on heritage right off the bat,” says Thomas. “Heritage is the key differentiator for our cluster.”
Brick Park is loosely defined as the area between Duke and Union, and Water and Charlotte Streets. But Thomas says it will always be a living thing – expanding and moving to accommodate its member companies.
“Today Brick Park is populated by more than 34 ICT companies, and more than 100 other knowledge industry businesses,” says Thomas. “These businesses have co-located here because they understand the benefit of working alongside other innovative companies, and being walking distance from coffee shops, restaurants and the life of the urban core.”
“Brick Park and its associated web site will give our team an important tool we can use to sell Saint John to prospective businesses, because it acts as a proof point that exciting and innovative things are happening in Saint John,” says Carson. “Because of this initiative, Brick Park will be synonymous with innovation, cooperation and connectivity – and participating companies will benefit from those powerful associations.”
Local realtors working in the business space have grabbed onto Brick Park as a promotional tool for their listings.
“I’m already using the Brick Park story to promote our uptown properties,” says Stephanie Turner of Partners Global Corporate Real Estate. “Making prospective tenants aware of the benefits of community they’d be moving into is an important component of closing the deal.”
Visit Brick Park online at www.brickpark.ca.