Plans for the new seniors’ housing complex on Hemlock Drive are moving forward.
A Manitoba Housing spokeswoman says the department has received a design for the complex that includes 20 easy-access suites and common spaces in a two-storey building.
The department has also estimated construction costs but will not release that figure in advance of a public tender being issued, the spokeswoman said.
“The design and estimated costs must now be reviewed before the project can move forward,” the spokeswoman told The Reminder last week. “Until this is complete, we can’t speculate on when demolition [of the current building] or new construction would begin.”
While there had reportedly been talk of physically connecting the new seniors’ housing complex with the existing one next door at 2 Hemlock Drive, the spokeswoman said site conditions did not allow for such a feature in the final design.
The new building, to be built at 4 Hemlock Drive where a vacant government housing complex for families now sits, will feature 21,025 sq ft of space, the spokeswoman added.
In its dying months, the former NDP government announced it would demolish the family housing complex to make way for a new seniors-only facility.
The new Progressive Conservative government confirmed to The Reminder earlier this summer that it would follow through on that commitment. No monetary figure for the project was ever released.
Under the NDP plan, residents living at the new complex were to pay 27 per cent of their income as rent, the same as at 2 Hemlock Drive. There is no indication that plan has changed.
The province evacuated the current 4 Hemlock Drive complex in 2012, citing safety concerns with the building that were deemed too costly to repair.
Neither the NDP nor the PCs announced plans to replace the 14 low-income family units lost when 4 Hemlock closed.
