Invest Downtown Orillia

This is your chance to be part of Orillia's charming downtown core. Nestled on the shores of Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching, Downtown Orillia provides a unique opportunity to live and work in a four-season playground. Orillia is well-known for its vibrant culture, historic Opera House, and award-winning festivals and events.

The City of Orillia was recently ranked as the fifth best place in Canada to invest in real estate, thanks in part to a number of recent high-profile investments. Hydro One has recently started development of their North American Advanced Technology Hub in Orillia, which will inject approximately $200-$300 million into the local economy. A new Recreation Facility is located in the downtown core attracting hundreds of residents and visitors to the city's centre daily, and generating more than $50 million in construction value. Private developments such as the Costco Wholesale facility draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the City throughout the year and recent Downtown developments like the much-anticipated Matchedash Lofts continue to increase the amount of people living and working in the City's core.

The City of Orillia also recently approved the addition of three new funding programs to the new Downtown Tomorrow Community Improvement Plan (DTCIP) Grant Program, which will play a pivotal role in incentivizing the redevelopment of brownfields in the City's core. 

This is an exciting time to be Downtown Orillia. Join this growing market today!

GRANTS AVAILABLE

The Downtown Tomorrow Community Improvement Plan (DTCIP) launched on January 1, 2017.  This program seeks to encourage growth in Downtown Orillia through the provision of grants to offset costs of development in the downtown core for projects such as façade improvements, signage, feasibility studies, building improvements and the creation of residential units.

Click here for details on the Downtown Tomorrow Community Improvement Plan Grant Program

                                   INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES                              

Opportunities Identified through the Retail Mix Study

Through a recent third-party Retail Mix study, it was determined that the City of Orillia is under-represented in the following business categories based on both our current, and growing, population:

• Restaurants
• Culture, Entertainment and Recreation establishments
• Convenience and Specialty Food stores
• Furniture, Home Furnishings and Electronic stores
• General Merchandise stores
• Clothing Stores
• Personal Care services

Opportunities Identified through the Regional Tourism Opportunities Project 

Through a study completed in October 2018, the following top three tourism investment opportunities were identified for Ontario's Lake Country:

Read the full Region Tourism Opportunities Project Report.

 Proud Partners of the Invest Downtown Initiative

We are happy to assist you in finding any additional information related to opening a business in Orillia. For more information, visit our Doing Business in Orillia webpage, or call the City of Orillia Business Development Division at 705-325-4900.