Feds and Province Team Up With Commonwealth Health to Build Seniors Housing
By 250 News
Monday, February 28, 2011 04:00 AM
Architectural rendering of complex that is now under construction at 6th and Quebec
EXCLUSIVE
Prince George, B.C.- It may not look like there is construction going on next to the Commonwealth Health Centre, but there is.
A building permit has been issued for the construction of a 36 unit seniors housing complex that will be located over the parkade on the north side of the Health Centre.
Opinion250 has learned the $4,883,00.00 will be jointly funded between the Federal and Provincial Governments, with B.C. Housing Managing the property.
The construction that is underway at the moment is shoring up the footings to ensure they can support the 4 storey structure, Yellowridge Construction based in Port Moody is doing the building.
Recently, the City and Northern Development Initiatives Trust announced they were collaborating on a new incentive program to promote development in the downtown core.
That program, which has yet to be finalized, would provide loans in an amount similar to the municipal tax exemptions developers would receive over the term of a revitalization tax exemption. The concept also suggests a “financial incentive”, which NDI Trust Chair Evan Saugstad says would most likely be in the form of a grant. That amount would be in the $10 thousand dollar per unit range for housing. “It is a system that could be put into play in places other than Prince George, “ says Saugstad “Here in Chetwynd we have a growing economy and no rental units because no one wants to build apartments anymore.”
In the case of Commonwealth Health, that could have translated into a cash incentive of $360 thousand dollars for the Seniors Housing, but that won’t happen says Saugstad because the program has not yet been approved, and the housing work has already started.
There is also a plan within this incentive program to prevent developers from double dipping, in that if there is an agreement with another level of government to build a project, the project would not then qualify for the extra cash incentive.
Many may recall that when John Majors initially built the Chances Gaming Centre and parkade on the site, there was a covenant attached to the development permit which required the construction of 6 townhouses on the “airspace” parcel on Quebec Street from the end of the new building to the corner of Quebec and 6th.
Opinion 250 has also learned that even though there is a senior’s housing unit being constructed, the covenant on the property for the construction of the townhouses remains in place.
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Posted by: bowzone_mikey on February 28 2011 9:25 AM
Housing in the downtown. Just what the City father and mothers doctor ordered for the downtown.
Not exactly the image of the housing as promoted by Paul Zanette. Looks a bit more like what might go up in a Fort Nelson or Burns Lake. But hey, that's where we live, right. This is not the Okanagan nor is it a $500,000+ 2 bedroom condo development.
Good for Commonwealth.