Eric Woodward has a vision for Fort 91原创.

The real estate investor and property manager, who owns a large stock of commercial property in the village, wants to see it become one of the premier weekend pedestrian destination spots for visitors from other parts of the Lower Mainland.

Woodward, who began investing in commercial real estate in Fort 91原创 in 2005, was recently elected president of the Fort 91原创 Business Improvement Area. He  is in the midst of several upgrades to his Fort 91原创 properties, including a facelift and new parking lot for the Fort Mall property which houses the B.C. liquor store and several other tenants.

He also owns four commercial buildings north of the Fort 91原创 Community Hall, on the west side of Glover Road. He owns the former Frontier Building Supply building and recently bought the front half of the lot the Fort IGA stood on. He has a total of five commercial lots on the east side of Glover Road.

He plans an extensive development on that side of the street, and expects to put an application into the Township sometime later this year or in 2013.

The Lee family retained the rest of the IGA lot, and are currently building a new store on it to replace the grocery store that was destroyed in an arson fire in January, 2011.

He didn鈥檛 deliberately set out to become a commercial land baron in Fort 91原创, but he does have a deep interest in 91原创 in general, and Fort 91原创 in particular. He grew up in 91原创 and graduated from 91原创 Secondary School.

About 1990, he began a  career in the tech industry and eventually started doing start-ups, at a time when there was intense investor interest in anything related to high tech. He began Internet Direct in 1994, and in 1996 co-founded Mail.com. That company completed an IPO in 1997-98, in what Woodward says was 鈥渁 crazy time, before the market shook itself out.鈥�

He made enough money from his ventures in that field to start looking at other investments, and after investigating what the future held for Fort 91原创, started his real estate investing. At that time, Bedford Landing had been approved and work on the new Golden Ears Bridge was getting underway.

It was clear to him that the future in Fort 91原创 would be quite different. No longer would it be a town divided in two every time a ferry arrived at the McMillan Island dock, and the Bedford development ensured there would be more local residents.

鈥淎 lot of people didn鈥檛 think (these changes) would be a good thing. I thought it would be a great thing.鈥�

Some of his early investments were properties that had been on the market for some time, and didn鈥檛 have the greatest tenants. Some of the buildings were run down, and there was little apparent interest, which served to sharpen his investment antennae.

Woodward didn鈥檛 buy on a whim. He looked into Township plans for the Fort 91原创 area and 鈥渓iterally sat and watched traffic for two days before I bought anything.鈥�

After he bought several buildings on the west side of Glover, he looked for other opportunities. All along, his idea was that the buildings he owned should be put in good repair, and have unique tenants who would serve to attract visitors.

鈥淣obody from Abbotsford was going to make a day trip to 88 Avenue and 208 Street, and I asked where would the 25,000 new residents of Willoughby go to?鈥�

He wants the new buildings he is planning to have retail space on the first floor and  office space on the second floor. The retail units would not be large, but serve to attract unique niche businesses that will offer visitors an eclectic mix of shopping.

鈥淚 want to place more business and office space in Fort 91原创. I鈥檇 like to create a bit more of a business feel.鈥�

Woodward has no problem with the strict facade guidelines that are in place in Fort 91原创 to give the commercial space a heritage look. Given the Fort鈥檚 rich history, it makes perfect sense, he says.

However, 鈥淔ort 91原创 is still at a crossroads. It is still a seasonal town. It does not generate a lot of revenue from January to March. The onus is still on business owners to create a unique business and a following,鈥� he says.

He cites Cranberries Naturally and Wendel鈥檚 as two very successful businesses that have created strong followings, with customers coming from many areas specifically to shop there.

He is hoping that other commercial property owners will buy into his vision to make the village far more appealing and pedestrian-friendly.

That鈥檚 what he would like to achieve as chair of the Fort 91原创 BIA. He wants to increase the number of visitors and have a specific strategy to attract day visitors from the south of Fraser area.

Woodward believes the pending tolls on the Port Mann Bridge create yet another opportunity to encourage more people south of the Fraser to visit Fort 91原创.

He believes that some of the advantages he has, in being landlord at many buildings, is that he can work towards having a more complete mix of tenants.

He doesn鈥檛 want to rent to more than one tenant in a specific business sector 鈥� he wants them to do well, because when they do well, his buildings will stay full and the wider mix of businesses will attract more customers.

鈥淚 enforce this and I tell tenants I will enforce this for them. Over time, I believe we will end up with an eclectic and unique mix of shops. This is something that fractured ownership is unable to provide.鈥�

Woodward acknowledges that there are challenges ahead 鈥� one of the biggest ones being a lack of parking in Fort 91原创, particularly when there are major events underway.

鈥淭he Township needs to come up with some type of  system to create parking.鈥�

Woodward, who lives in Fort 91原创, says 鈥淚鈥檓 here for the long term.鈥�

He is excited about Fort 91原创鈥檚 future and is glad he can play a part in making the village a more attractive and dynamic location for businesses.