yorkregion.com
July 19, 2008, David Fleisher

BMW zooms into Richmond Hill.

If you could trade in your Honda for a BMW you would probably take it, and the town of Richmond Hill is no different.

The German automaker breaks ground tomorrow on its new national headquarters at Leslie Street and Major Mackenzie Drive.

“This is the place to be,” said BMW Group Canada vice-president Christian Feilmeier of why they chose Richmond Hill for its new offices.

For the past 21 years, BMW has worked out of offices in Whitby, but they have outgrown those facilities and began looking for something bigger two years ago.

The expansion might seem like an anomaly in the midst of the upheaval in the auto industry, but BMW’s brand has remained strong and June was their best month ever, Mr. Feilmeier said.

One thing BMW has been emphasizing is its “efficiency dynamics” effort to be more earth friendly, building hybrid cars and improving fuel efficiency.

That is also manifested in the new building, which will be built to meet LEED environmental standards, something Mr. Feilmeier said is in keeping with BMW’s committment to the environment.

“That clearly helps us because the brand seems to be positioned well,” he said.

The LEED system recognizes all aspects of a building’s construction and awards points for everything from using recycled building materials to having bike racks and being located on a transit line. The number of points the project earns determines how high a ranking it receives.

“You spend a little bit more beforehand because it’s a more sophisticated building, but over time you are going to get it back,” he said.

Mr. Feilmeier said the new location is closer to the centre of the GTA and the airport. It also provides good visibility for what they hope will be a landmark building at which more than 300 people will work.

A deal between the town and BMW has been worked on for about six months, Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow said, adding they are happy to have BMW in town.

“We’re really delighted to have them here. We’ve been working really hard on that 404 corridor,” Mr. Barrow said.

Excitement surrounded Honda Canada’s announcement they would build its national headquarters in Richmond Hill, but those plans fell apart last year due to quibbling over the location of a road.

Citing bureaucratic delays, the automaker pulled up stakes, moving just a few hundred metres, to the Markham side of Hwy. 404.

A ground-breaking took place last October, just two months after the Richmond Hill deal collapsed and they now expect to open next summer.

The town took some criticism over the Honda deal falling apart, but Mr. Barrow said landing the BMW headquarters doesn’t have anything to do with the Honda issue. But he admitted there is a rivalry between Markham and Richmond Hill.

“It’s a good rivalry. We don’t throw anything in each other’s faces,” Mr. Barrow said.

With the company being an innovative, environmentally conscience one, the Richmond Hill location is perfect in keeping with its corporate image, Mr. Barrow said.

The BMW headquarters are expected to be ready before the end of 2009.

“We’re all pretty excited to be citizens of Richmond Hill,” Mr. Feilmeier said.

—With files from Pat Mangion and Caroline Grech

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