Blindman and the corridor: what an anchor project does for a heavy-industrial park

Blindman Industrial Park is a County heavy- and medium-industrial park on Highway 2A — a converted industrial subdivision of large lots, built decades ago, sitting at the seam between the City of Red Deer, Red Deer County and the Town of Blackfalds. It is a working sector that needs revitalization, on one of Alberta’s most important transportation corridors.

The corridor is growing. The province is widening 11 km of the QE2 to six and eight lanes and replacing the CN overpass bridges (2025–2027); CN rail, Red Deer Regional Airport and Highway 11 are minutes away; Blackfalds has been one of Canada’s fastest-growing towns over the last decade.

What AHI does for the sector: behind-the-fence generation, a 138 kV interconnection program and dual-path fibre put institutional-grade utilities into a park that never had them; precast, sound-walled, waterless buildings set a new standard for the next lot; and ≈$1.49M a year in property tax at 10 MW rising to ≈$4.47M at 30 MW — without a single new municipal service.

The evidence from elsewhere is consistent. In Virginia, data centres supported 112,000+ jobs and ≈$40 billion in economic impact in 2025, with more than two additional jobs supported for every operating data-centre job (NVTC / Mangum Economics, March 2026). In Loudoun County, data centres fund roughly 38% of the county’s general fund. In Alberta, a single campus in Sturgeon County was announced at ≈$13B with 3,000+ construction jobs.

The full section — with a corridor map and sources — is on the Community Information page.

AHI — AI Hub of Innovation is developed by Havenz Smart Communities (Lead Developer) in partnership with Turning Stone Developments (Lead Investor); both are general partners of AHI. Figures are as published on ahicampus.com at the date shown; nothing in this article constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy securities. Growth beyond the 30 MW plan of record is a pathway subject to its own permits and studies.