A minimum of 48 affordable housing units are being planned for phase 2 of the 230 Talbot Street development. St. Thomas City Council heard a preliminary business case for the development at a reference committee meeting on Tuesday (September 3). The proposed 4 storey building fronting onto Queen Street is expected to cost $13 million.
The 48 units are double the 24 that were initially proposed when a child care facility was being planned for the ground floor.
City Manager Wendell Graves says that while right now they are proposing 48 units, that may go up.
The majority of the are units are expected to be one bedroom, with some two bedrooms also possible. The rents of the proposed units are expected to be in the $500-$550 range, with some possibly being rent geared to income.
The City would be selling 24 of their existing housing units as part of the project. Staff will continue to work on the business case and plan to have more information back to council before Christmas.
As myFM first informed you about in July, the child care facility initially intended for the 230 Talbot Street project will now be located in the St. Catherine Street parking lot. The change came as the construction costs associated with the combined child care facility and housing units were rising.
