Construction of a 50-unit seniors complex in Powassan remains on schedule and on budget with more than half of the building now complete.
The project was announced by the Non-Profit Organization for Almaguin Housing (NOAH) last summer and the Parry Sound District Social Services Administration Board is backing the $11-million loan to build the complex.
Parry Sound DSSAB Chief Administration Officer Tammy MacKenzie said the lumber shortage has not affected construction because the three-storey building is mostly made from concrete.
MacKenzie said rent on 25 of the units will be market geared while the remaining 25 apartments are classified as affordable units meaning the rent is 20 per cent below market rates.
As the building approaches 75 per cent completion, which should be in a couple of months, DSSAB will have a better idea of what the rental rates will be.
Six of the units will be two-bedroom apartments, 18 will be single bedrooms while one unit is being set aside as a studio apartment.
All these units will be rented at market rates.
As for the other 25 units, they are also classed as studio apartments and will have an affordable rent structure.
The studio apartments are the smallest at 452 square feet while the single bedrooms are 596 square feet and the two-bedroom apartments are 697 square feet in size.
At less than 500 square feet, the studio apartments may be small but MacKenzie has seen the drawings and says the architect did a good job with the layout.
“So when you walk in the unit you're not looking at your bed,” she said.
“It's around a small corner.”
MacKenzie says the seniors building now has a name.
It's called The Meadow View.
With the goal of having it finished sometime during December, applications for potential tenants will begin in a few months for occupancy in January.
MacKenzie adds a ribbon-cutting ceremony is possible sometime this year “but we have to wait to see how COVID plays out over the next few months”.
Bill Atkinson, the chair of NOAH, says the organization is looking forward to welcoming the tenants in just a few months.
NOAH was created in 2018 by a group of Sundridge area volunteers in response to the 2016 Census which Atkinson said: “clearly outlined the major need for seniors housing in East Parry Sound.”
Atkinson said thanks to an alliance between Powassan and the Parry Sound DSSAB, the way was cleared to build a seniors complex for the area.
With the seniors building now having a name, the public can follow the project on Facebook and inquiries can also be made by going to [email protected] for more information.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the North Bay Nugget. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
