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Airdrie's 2021 Economic Update

 The 2021 Business Breakfast and Economic Update was held on Monday, November 22 with a record crowd of over 150 at Airdrie's Town and Country Centre.

The breakfast is Airdrie Economic Development's annual event bringing together business owners and community leaders and providing the opportunity to learn more about the Airdrie business environment and the current economy and future trends.

Presenters included:

  • Mayor Peter Brown, City of Airdrie
  • Chief Administrative Officer Paul Schulz, City of Airdrie
  • Team Leader of Airdrie Economic Development Sara Chamberlain, City of Airdrie
  • Vice President and Chief Economist Todd Hirsch, ATB Financial
  • Public Speaker and Serial Entrepreneur Jess Tetu 

Presentation highlights:

  • The City's Right for Your Business Voucher Program provided customized COVID-19 support for local businesses. To date, the program has supported 86 participants, offered over $92,000 in vouchers for business professionals and 92% of participants have told us the program impacted their business in a positive way.
  • Watch your inbox in early 2022 for a Business Satisfaction & COVID-19 Impact Survey.
  • Airdrie has experienced a busy year in new business activity; to-date 2021 we have added 82 new commercial businesses and 424 home-based. We are on-trend to close the year with record growth in comparison to 2019 and 2020 data.
  • Despite the pandemic, we have seen increases in 2020/21 across the board in both the residential and non-residential construction markets.
  • Airdrie's 2021 vacancy study reports a decrease in non-residential real estate vacancy to 3.51%. In addition, there have been a number of large land transactions in Highland Park industrial that will result in our serviced industrial land supply close to depleted until East Points industrial comes on stream.
  • We are continuing to experience steady population growth; our 2019 municipal census reported a population of 70,564 and we are forecasting a three to four per cent increase for the next several years. Looking out to 2030 we anticipate Airdrie being home to more than 100,000 people and the possibility of being Alberta's third largest city.
  • For our City to grow into a well-planned, welcoming, safe and healthy city, a focused strategy is essential. The 40th Avenue and QEII interchange is well underway and on track for completion in the fall of 2023. Future civic investments include the Downtown Airdrie Redevelopment Plan (proposed), Multi-Use Library Facility ($62.7MM), Recreation Centre ($180MM) and Yankee Valley Grade Separation ($54.2MM).
  • This year we released an inaugural report that highlights the real estate investment, development and building opportunities in our city. Airdrie's Growth Report: Tracking Development and Change includes a variety of indicators such as population forecasts, an inventory of available and developable land, and much more.
  • Two new entrepreneur supports will be coming in 2022; the Government of Alberta recently announced funding towards a Digital Service Squad that will be delivered in Airdrie and pending budget approval we hope to officially launch AdvanceSMART, a new mentorship program focused on helping growth businesses go to the next level.