Local land developer has big plans for Whitbourne business park

By Patrick Newhook/March 24, 2022

Despite the ongoing pandemic, the Avalon Business Park, located in Whitbourne, has been doing well in recent years.

Now, there will be a new addition to the park.

Goose Pond Properties is a property management company that develops residential and commercial/industrial properties. Owner and developer Daniel Gosse says that they have lots of plans for the business park.

The park is divided into phases. Phase one was the opening of the A&W, and phase two will be the development of a new commercial plaza to house multiple businesses. Among those business, Gosse is hoping to attract medical services in particular.

“We’re going to see a mixed occupancy,” said Gosse. “What we want to promote next is the medical/professional field. I know one that we want to see is a chiropractor, massage clinic type of thing. A lot of people in the area, to obtain these services, they’ve got to go to a city which is 45 minutes away. We see a need for that. Dentistry, clinical professional style businesses, we’ve been in talks with many of these, and a veterinarian… what we want to do now is bring those services closer and that’s part of our Plan B.”

Gosse also says they have plans to tap into the tourism industry.

“There will also be tourist targeted venues as well,” said Goose. “We get a lot of people who come off the Argentia ferry and they travel onto the Trans Canada. When they’re visiting the island, they want to see Newfoundland culture.”

In the past, the town of Whitbourne was home to a variety of stores, from retail stores like Ben’s to the Trinity-Placentia Mall. These businesses have closed over the years.

According to Gosse, what makes the Avalon Business Park so viable is its location. Located right on the highway, it’s prime real estate for travelers passing by.

“For anyone entering the Avalon Peninsula, that’s a bottle neck,” he said. “All traffic has to pass by that location coming to or from the Avalon and it’s a great catchment area for all communities, everything from Placentia and Argentia, to Clarenville East, and down in Trinity Bay, as mentioned Dildo, Blaketown, Green’s Harbour those places, and Chapel Arm and Whitbourne and so on. All those communities kind of circle that location, so when we looked at it, we thought that was a good catchment area for commercial, industrial development.”

Hilda Whelan, the mayor of Whitbourne, said she is excited to see these types of developments in her town.

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Whelan. “It’s a wonderful site. It gets the highway traffic as well as up and down the shore and out towards Chapel Arm, everyone uses it. It’s just great.”

Whelan is happy to see the town grow, both residentially and commercially, believing these developments are adding to the community.

“Since I’ve been mayor, I’m very happy to see the growth and I don’t see it slowing,” she said.

Gosse also doesn’t see things slowing down anytime soon.

“When you see the positive results and the spin offs, it sort of sells itself,” he said.