Yes! they're moving ... temporarily

Story and photo by Chris Thibeault

As part of the federal Economic Action Plan to help local economies, Yes! Employment has been approved for a $2-million grant for a new building, resulting in a temporary change of location, as the Main Street East office is slated for demolition.

Gisele Cousineau, C.E.O. of Yes! Employment, says that renovating the current buildings was cost prohibitive and time consuming in contrast to tearing it down and starting from scratch. The current location is a two-building structure which is joined through the main floor and original renovation plans would the entire building fully joined through the renovation.

“This is a two-story building and that is a three-story building, and the stories don’t match up. So, after doing a little bit more investigation, the consulting engineers suggested that it would be cheaper, and probably faster, and of course we would end up with a better product, and a much nicer building, if we demolished this one,” Cousineau explained.

The current location at 149 Main Street East is in various levels of disrepair and half of Yes! Employment was ravaged by fire a few years ago in fact scorching is still present on the outside of the third floor windows. Cousineau says the age of the buildings plays a big part in the decision to destroy and rebuild.

“It’s just so much more economically feasible (the demolition). These are old buildings, we’ve got old plumbing, old electrical, and roofs that still leak,” she states.

A grant application was sent in August and was approved for $3-million in renovations, but not a demolition. Cousineau says they are currently waiting for a ‘scope change’ before demolition can start. A scope change will allow them to officially change plans from a renovation to a major demolition and rebuilding. But, overall, the grant has been approved for $1-million federal and $1-million provincial, as long as $1-million is provided by Yes! Employment.
“It’s looking very promising,” Cousineau said. “I’m hoping that it can start in a couple of weeks,” she says enthusiastically.
Before construction can start, a temporary move to 945 Stockdale Road will take place this Friday. Cousineau says that it will be a smooth transition as the movers will be working after regular business hours.

“Friday will be our last day of business here on Main Street, and Monday will be our first day of business on Stockdale Road,” she said joyfully.

It will be business as usual for Yes! Employment, but they also plan to have more people use their services due to this move.

“Our new location is on a bus route, and there is parking right there, so it is accessible to everybody just the same. Because we will have parking right at the door, it might even increase (the amount of people that use the services),” she said.

Cousineau also predicts that the change will last nearly one year, but says it is worth it because the organization is constantly expanding.

“We anticipate being there for about nine or ten months,” she said.

“When we first opened, we were upstairs on the top floor of this building and we had just a portion of the top floor. Then we expanded and took over the whole top floor. And then we expanded some more and took over the main floor. And then we expanded again and took over the basement. So we need this, because it’s always piecemeal. It will be much nicer when it’s all cohesive.”

Beginning Monday, March 29, Yes! Employment will be located at 945 Stockdale Road. All services will still be available.