community again?’” Jack recalls. “They kind of laughed and kicked me out. They said ‘Sorry, we can’t give you the building.’ A month later they called me back and said ‘We can’t give it to you for free, but we’re intrigued by your vision and we’d like to meet again.” After discussing it further and working out a fair price, a deal was struck. Jack brought on some business partners – the other founders of the EIC – and “we bought a million square foot empty building with five security guards working in it.” When the EIC team first purchased the site, the property was “big and clean and empty,” Jack recalls. “I warned my wife we may end up living under a bridge,” he jokes. “So I took her down to the bridge in Dorchester, showed her the view, and showed her when we’d plant the trees to support her hammock. She said ‘Okay, let’s go for it.’ That was about 13 years ago now.” In the early days the team experienced many challenges with firm alarms freezing sprinkler systems hazardous building materials family to Aylmer so he could be minutes away from the facility for when the next emergency happened. Fortunately, the EIC was a success and Jack ultimately never had to reside under that bridge. Jack recalls the facility being 75 per cent sold out before they even started to list it. Today, the centre is 100 percent occupied with over 35 tenants and more than 500 people working there. From the beginning, what has made the EIC unique was the approach of the founders, which is uniquely handson. The property has always been owner-managed, with management striving to be as supportive and responsive as possible to allow for business change and growth. In addition, they have always had a “willingness to work with and provide support to early-stage companies,” and “to take risks An aerial photo of the facility is the only way to comprehend the size of the facility that Imperial Tobacco used to operate. It has taken over a decade to revitalize 1,000,000 square feet of warehouse, office, and industrial space into fully functional space for businesses to thrive in. DECEMBER 2022
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