Higher than expected construction contract bids have delayed construction of 40-unit Indigenous affordable housing project and new home for the Sarnia Native Friendship Center on Confederation Street.
Higher than expected construction contract bids have delayed construction of 40-unit Indigenous affordable housing project and new home for the Sarnia Native Friendship Center on Confederation Street.
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The Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services Corp. had expected to break ground this fall, but its architect had to reduce the size of the building, development manager Gail Obediah told Lambton County council this week.
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Bids came in $4 million over estimates and remained too high after discussions between the architect and contractors, she said.
Sarnia council approved rezoning in July 2022 for what was described then as an $18-million, five-storey project on land previously home to the Lambton Shrine Club.
“We’ve had to go back to the table and do some major reductions” from 47,000 square feet (4,370 square meters) to 36,044 sq. ft. (3,350 sq. m), but the project will remain five stores, with 40 apartments and ground-floor space for the center, Obediah said.
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The building’s exterior look has changed, and its smaller footprint will allow more parking and added space for outdoor center programming, she said.
The center, a non-profit community agency, now offers programs at a Lochiel Street site.
The corporation is still in talks with the center to finalize the new plans, Obediah said.
“We’re hoping to have that buttoned up by next week,” with the architect completing revised plans by late February, she said. If all goes well, “We’ll be looking at April, May next year to get started” on construction.
“We’ve had quite a few challenges with this development,” Obediah said.
Plans are for 16 one-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom apartments on floors two to five. Eight of the units will be barrier-free.
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The original design had apartments on the ground floor.
Anyone self-identifying as Indigenous can be placed on the corporation’s central housing registry waiting list, which will be used to match tenants with the Sarnia project, Obediah said.
As affordable housing, apartment rents will be 80 per cent of the market rate.
The site, at 940 Confederation St., is a vacant lot next to Good Shepherd’s Lodge, a shelter run by the Inn of the Good Shepherd, which opened in 2010 on land that was once the Shrine Club’s parking lot.
The club’s building was torn down and Lambton County later agreed to reimburse the Inn of the Good Shepherd $100,000 for demolition and legal costs and donate the property to Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services for the affordable housing project.
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