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

Blindman Industrial Park is a County heavy- and medium-industrial park on Highway 2A — an established park 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 the QE2 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 grid 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 a new non-residential tax base for the County and Alberta schools — without a single new municipal service.

Everywhere data centres and power are built together, a second economy follows: electrical and mechanical contractors, equipment service, fibre and network firms, logistics, security, agritech on waste heat, and education partnerships — the businesses that fill the lots around a campus.

The full section 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 (investment partner); both are general partners of AHI. Statements about future capacity, dates and milestones are forward-looking and subject to approvals, capital and change; nothing in this article constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities. Growth beyond the first phase is a master-plan objective subject to its own permits and studies. Third-party names describe roles and imply no endorsement. See Important information.