It has been said in business that the best landlord you can have is yourself.

Three business partners have taken the step to see if this saying is true.

Blair Ivens, Dave Gilroy and Bruce Kells, partners in The Cottage Bar and Grill and Blackburn’s Steakhouse, have purchased the building and land known as Blackburn’s Landing from the ownership group Diamond Properties. The deal was finalized in late 2007 and the partners have been busy in recent months putting their own touches on the property, including opening the new steakhouse in the spot formerly occupied by The Porch.

“I would say that in the fall of 2006, the owners came to us and told us that they were interested in selling,” Ivens said. “At that time we weren’t in a financial position to buy, but we did say that we were interested. The talks sort of went away and then they came back to us last spring stating they were still interested in selling. As the summer progressed, we came into a position where we were able to go forward.”

Kells said the property includes the building and a lot that stretches along 600 feet of waterfront. He said the reason he and his partners decided to take the plunge is because there are understandably more advantages to owning the building your business is located in than not.

“When your lease is up you don’t really have anything left. So by doing this, we have made our businesses more valuable,” he said.

“We also knew we paid about 75 per cent of the rent on the whole property,” said Ivens. “So we figured that as along as we had the down payment, there was no real changes on financial side for us. We also thought that if we had a bad year in our restaurants – not that we have had a bad year yet – at least a portion of our rent has gone toward something.”

Gilroy said that he enjoys the freedom being the property owner has compared to when they were renters.

“I love it. It is so much better to pay a mortgage than lease,” he joked. “Our previous landlords were great, but this does give us flexibility and makes it more worthwhile to spend some money on a building you actually own.”

The partners say they have ‘a million long-term ideas’ for the property, but nothing really has been firmed up. They do say they are considering placing a refreshment vehicle somewhere on the lot possibly by this summer.

“There is a parcel of land out there waiting for something to be done with it,” said Kells.

“This would give us three levels of eating establishments all in one spot,” said Ivens. “People could get a different dining experience each time they come here. You could say they will be feeding off one another.”

They say if they are successful in securing a refreshment vehicle, they will use the land around it to create a family-oriented park setting for their customers.