This story is part of a special Housing North series that looks at the market in the northeast of Ontario.
Even with a trench of earth running down the hall and the exposed cables and pipes that hang from the ceiling, it still looks like a primary school.
But when Peter Nault and his crews end with the old school of St. Bernadette in Sudbury, he does not believe that any of the former staff and the students recognize it.
One of the great reasons of that is that Nault is to eliminate all the common areas of the school in the New Southbury neighborhood and turn it into 20 rental units that are slabs, which means that there is no basement underneath.
That will be followed by a new construction in the courtyard of the old school, with 27 more units of slab in grade with separate apartments of first and second floor in each one, which makes it a total of 74 residences in the property of the old school.
Nault said that he will bring his portfolio of rent units in Greater Sudbury to around 300, much of that construction of slabs in degree, which is demonstrating to be popular among the elderly who seek to reduce the size of a house of a level, but still have two rooms, some of the space outside the space and the storage room.
“There are many things that do not want to separate,” he said, adding that there is a waiting list for rent and regularly receives calls from older people who plan a future movement.
“There is definitely demand. Much interest.”
Despite that, Nault, who also has a construction company, the northern housing builders, cares that there could be a “great effect” in the local rental market if the United States carries out tariff threats, which increases the cost of living even higher.
“Then, for me, as a developer, it is a risky type of project, because we are putting 74 units that we need to fill, to cover the cost,” he said.
“And if people cannot pay the cost, there will be contradictory numbers there.”
Nault said that the majority of its slab rental units to grade range between $ 1,700 and $ 2,800 per month, and raises those payments in a mortgage of 40 or 50 years to maintain the price “within a range of what someone can pay.”
“If we did this in a period of 25 years, the rentals would be out of reach,” he said.
“Contrary to what people think, the gain at the end of the day is very minimal in a project of this size to keep the income in a reasonable amount.”
Belmar Builders is another Sudbury developer who has been placing more slab units in recent years, and director Tim McDonald says they are demonstrating “very popular.”
That includes building several duplex with Hanmer tracking spaces each year that cost between $ 500,000 and $ 550,000, as well as single -family houses in Sudbury itself, including one in the South End that is listed for $ 898,000.
“There is no place for older people to go,” he said.
“We have some people who want to rent them. We have some people who are renting now who also want to buy us. It’s very good.”
