Is the Sault booming? Renewed investor faith and confidence in the community is driving current and future development activity.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: SAULT STE. MARIE

The signs of a prosperous local economy are everywhere.

Big box stores are going up in the city's north end, several new subdivisions and schools are under development and there's new public and private investment in the Sault's manufacturing and energy sector.

For the first times in many years, the city's largest employer and economic foundation, Algoma Steel, is on solid financial footing. New Indian ownership, Essar Global Ltd., has big plans to train more apprentices and invest $500 million in upgrades to double steel production.

While the Sault's population stands at 74,948, its lowest since the early 1970s, there's a renewed sense of optimism and well-being in the community.

"I've never seen the economy this robust," says the Sault's Economic Development Corporation president Bruce Strapp.

Only four years ago Algoma and the entire steel industry was near bankruptcy. Since then global steel prices have increased and Algoma is one of North America's most profitable steel-makers

But it was a wake-up call to community leaders to seek diversification and find ways to attract investment wherever possible.

Now with the Sault's unemployment rate hovering around 6 per cent, the challenge of finding enough people to work "came quicker than anticipated," says Strapp.

Call centres are one of the Sault's largest private employers at more than 4,000 full and part-time workers and have boosted household incomes.

However, the local forestry industry such as Boniferro Mill Works and St. Marys Paper have taken their lumps on the export front with a strong Canadian dollar and a soft U.S. housing market.

A top priority among city officials is growing the Sault's promising IT and sciences sector. Algoma University College, the Innovation Centre and government forestry researchers are teaming up to create a convergence centre to commercialize science and technology in the region.

In the energy field, Brookfield Power has installed Canada's biggest wind farm west of town and Pod Generating is installing a 20-megawatt solar project.

There's a big push to investigate the Sault's transportation options including receiving container goods by rail to reload onto trucks for the U.S. market.

During an overseas trade mission to China last spring to promote the multi-modal initiative, a city delegation made contact with a copper pipe manufacturer with aims on expanding into North America.

"It's the first mission I've ever been on where you meet proponents who...