St. Thomas is undergoing a generational change in how the city builds homes. This comes on the heels of a generational change in the growth of St. Thomas, observed Mayor Joe Preston on Wednesday morning at the site of a new townhouse development in Shaw Valley.
It’s an innovative approach to affordable housing where homebuilders are being offered financial incentives to construct new townhouses with self-contained Additional Residential Units (ARU) in the basement.
The Shaw Valley development is a partnership between MacPherson Builders and Collier Homes, and initially will involve the construction of six townhouse units with an
ARU in each unit.
A further 29 units are planned, each with an ARU.
Russell Higgins of MacPherson Homes explained what each ARU will look like.
The financial incentive is a rebate of $12,500 back to developers from the City of St. Thomas for each unit built.
Higgins explained the self-contained unit will be available either for the homeowner to rent out to a third party, or it could be an in-law suite, or it could be a suite with an adult child living there.
It is expected the basement units would rent for about $1,200 per month.
Higgins said it is likely a transit service will serve the Shaw Valley development in the future.
Brandon Collier of Collier Homes added, “St. Thomas is a special place where we build. Where it’s really a same team mentality between the builders, the developers, the city officials and the inspectors.
“Everyone’s on the same team and it’s the bonding of this community improvement program that’s really going to allow us to provide more support to our clients.
“St. Thomas is poised to boom as we all know. And, us and MacPherson are just a small piece of that solution to provide much-needed housing in the years to come.”
Mayor Joe Preston noted, “It’s a really unique concept and I sure hope that other municipalities are watching and our other developers are also watching.”
Higgins concluded, “With contemporary designs and expert craftmanship, the project provides residents the opportunity to live close to parks, schools and future public transit, while supporting the city’s commitment to increasing housing diversity and affordability.”
Written by Ian McCallum
