The banks of the Thames River in Chatham will soon be home to another two new apartment buildings.
Skyline plans to start building 142 rental units at 53 and 57 Riverview Drive in the spring and hopes to welcome its first tenants in the summer of 2022.
"Making the decision to invest and build in Chatham-Kent was made significantly easier thanks to a combination of factors," said Carrie Lamarche, Vice President of SkyDev based out of Guelph. "They had the infrastructure in place that we could connect into, they had key information about water, sanitary sewer capacity and other utilities readily available, and overall they were prepared, and eager to help."
Lamarche said residents will enjoy views of the river and beautifully landscaped open spaces. She added suites will have an open concept design with modern finishes, quartz countertops, in-suite laundry, and on-site storage. SkyDev also boasts the expansive indoor and outdoor amenity building which includes a kitchen, games room, and an indoor/outdoor fireplace with barbecues for the enjoyment of the whole family. SkyDev is aiming to break ground on more than one thousand rental apartments across Ontario over the next year.
"The past few months have intensified Ontario’s housing crisis, and the need is stronger than ever with the availability of rental apartments at all-time lows," added Greg Jones, President of SkyDev.
The Economic Development Services and Community Development with the Municipality of Chatham-Kent credited the Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for landing the Skyline development. The CIP encourages development initiatives and stimulates new investment across Chatham-Kent by offering tax assistance and other grants to large apartment and affordable housing projects, along with new commercial and industrial development.
“Encouraging new housing development is a high priority for Chatham-Kent, which is why the CIP and other initiatives are being launched with some aggressive and actionable time lines," said Ryan Jacques, Director of Chatham-Kent Planning Services. "Some incentives are only available for a limited time so we encourage developers to start the application process now."
Rental housing development has been brisk in Chatham-Kent lately. On November 23, council approved a new four-story apartment building with 18 units by Tunio Developments Inc. at 23 Louise Street in Tilbury. A new 244 unit apartment launched by The Piroli Group at 460 Park Avenue West got the CIP ball rolling with the first of what has been several applications and developments to come to Chatham-Kent under the program.
Photo via CK Ec Dev. Sept 10, 2020.
The municipality said local developers are setting new records for residential building permit requests compared to the past decade.
“We listened to developers tell us what they need to be successful, and we are working with many by advancing a renewed growth strategy across Chatham-Kent. Even though there has been a pandemic going on, the Planning Department has been running full steam ahead,” said Jacques. “Our goal is to help Chatham-Kent grow and to make sure people know that we are open for business. I’m looking forward to 2021 and the opportunities that are ahead.”
