May 5, 2006
Weekly News (Dartmouth, Cole Harbour, NS)
Friday May 5, 2006 p.8
William Clarke
There continues to be good news for downtown Dartmouth's revitalization. An eight-year-old technology firm has just crossed the harbour from Halifax, perhaps signaling a scramble for still-undervalued commercial space in the downtown core.
Towards the end of February, developer Francis Fares unveiled a $300 million plan to develop the Dartmouth Marine Slips as King's Wharf, a "waterfront lifestyle centre" of shops, services and condos spread over nine acres of land and more than 20 acres of water.
"It's about change, a new community, the revitalization of downtown Dartmouth, it's the way the future is going for Dartmouth," said Fares.
For ImmediaC president John Leahy, his firm has decided not to wait the five to 10 years for King's Wharf to be completed. They left Halifax's Purdy's Wharf to anchor the vacant space in the historic Blenus Travel Building at 71 Portland Street. He said they chose to leave Halifax's higher rents for Dartmouth's different feel.
"We came from having an office in Purdy's Wharf for almost seven years," said Leahy. "We wanted something that was funky, easy to get to, where parking wasn't outrageous and our salespeople could come and go easily."
Tim Olive, Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission executive director, was tickled to welcome a new business as his district undergoes a renaissance.
He said ImmediaC is a company that recognizes the value in being here.
"As you know, they came over from Halifax," said Olive with a chuckle.
"That's the message we want to put out there; that this is no longer 'the dark side', that there are very progressive companies that see the growth potential over here and are getting in on the ground floor."
Although most recent technology news focused on Blackberry-developer Research In Motion announcing they were taking a space in Bayers Lake, a new business tenant in downtown Dartmouth is no less exciting.
"We looked all over the region," said Leahy. "We looked in Burnside, we looked in Bayers Lake, we looked in downtown Halifax, this (downtown Dartmouth) fit all of our criteria. It's kind of an eclectic neighbourhood."
About ImmediaC
The company builds high-performance websites with a server-based content management tool they created, called I-Web Suite, that gives non-technical people the ability to update a website.
According to Leahy, they have more than 200 customers from California to France that are using ImmediaC's content management tools. That list includes some of the region's most content-rich, interactive sites such as Dalhousie University, the Nova Scotia government, Clean Nova Scotia and the Halifax International Airport.
A visit to any of the aforementioned sites is all it takes to make you wonder just how difficult I-Web Suite is to use. Even for tech-savvy entrepreneurs, content publishers and business managers familiar with coding website front and back ends, it's time-consuming to re-code pages every time you need to make a change.
Leahy said I-Web Suite lets you simply type your content into a window and format it in any way you please without having to tackle the code. He said it allows people to concentrate on running their business instead of writing code, and it provides services like monthly newsletter subscriptions and other interactive site tools.
But building web pages is just half the battle. Although I-Web Suite removes the task of generating web pages from the user, it also optimizes them for search engines.
"Getting a good Google listing is one of the most important things to our customers now," said Leahy. "A big part of the (e-commerce) battle is coming up with a good listing, and that depends on how much effort you put in to getting found."
With a corporate strategy focused on the American market, Leahy said it doesn't matter much where they are located. He said they're either on the phone or on an airplane going to see clients wherever they may be, but their new Dartmouth office also makes it easier for clients to get to them.