Venture Kamloops five year plan came into effect this year and real estate has been a main focus of year one.

The past couple of years have seen a record number of building permits and construction in the city.

Executive director Jim Anderson says in order to attract business, you need to convince them it’s worth the risk. “It’s really hard to convince a perspective business owner or a business owner who owns a location elsewhere that may not have a location in Kamloops to say go ahead and build a business and put you money in and put your work in and we’re pretty sure that growth is going to happen. But now we’re in a position where we can say the growth is happening.”

Anderson says they have the numbers to show that over the last couple of years, growth has really expanded and the numbers are there now to make sound business decisions on.