Boomtown Reston

Whaddya know .. CTV had a story about Reston Manitoba on the news today, about selling plots of land for $10. As chance would have it, I happened to be in that very same hamlet this past weekend.

CTV is certainly correct that Reston is experiencing a boom. A "boom" in Reston terms involves two duplexes being built as we speak, in addition to several other houses that were recently constructed or moved in as pre-fab units. This may not sound like much, but in relative terms, Reston's recent growth would be equivalent to 45,000 people moving into Winnipeg in one year.

With growth comes opportunity.

$10 in Reston might not get you as much as it does in Maricopa County Arizona, but it's still a pretty good deal. There may be potential for some big real estate gains there for an enterprising real estate speculator if the oil keeps flowing in that corner of the province. Be sure to read the fine print before pulling the trigger. You will need to actually build a house, and you might even have to live in it too.

If building a new house doesn't appeal to you, there are some other potential opportunities:

The Panda: Reston's requisite Chinese food restaurant The Panda is up for sale. If you want a captive market and don't mind a little cooking, this is for you. Your only competition is the Dennis County restaurant up the street. By the way, if you eat at Dennis County I recommend the hamburger steak. Avoid the chicken filet.

Beverage Room: Reston did have a bar, much like every other small town bar, but it burned down. The owner has not yet begun to rebuild due to an insurance dispute, and this leaves a wide opening for YOU. Oil workers pulling in 200 Gs need places to drink too, and right now Reston is not providing that. If you blow into town and build a new bar, you can capture some of that small town binge down magic.

Hotel: Since you're building a bar, you might as well build a decent place to stay while you're at it. There were a few rooms at what used to be the bar, but even if they're technically still open (and I'm not sure they are), you probably don't want to actually sleep there unless the spot under the bridge on the golf course is already occupied. Neighboring Pipestone doesn't have a hotel anymore. For visitors to the area, there's not much choice but to stay in Virden half an hour away.

Tim Hortons: Reston lies on highway 2 at that magical three hour mark from Winnipeg -- the point at which everybody in the car needs to take a whiz and refuel on coffee -- yet there is no coffee to be had along the highway. In fact from the Perimeter highway to the Saskatchewan border and beyond, you will not find a Timmy's anywhere. True, this highway is nowhere near as busy as the TransCanada, but there is also nowhere near as many places to stop. Thanks to a new card lock Co-op gas station, many more truckers are pulling off the highway at Reston than ever before. This, combined with passenger cars filled with under-caffeinated people filled pee, combined with locals who want a change of scenery, spells success!

****** UPDATE ******

The message is spreading. Yahoo! is now covering the story, so you had better hurry! I should also warn you that I'm getting quite a few google hits about this story.

See also Slurpees and Murder.