The new housing boom in Chatham-Kent continues, this time inside a former school.
Apollo Inc. got the approval from council recently to renovate St. Joe’s School in Chatham into 18 apartment units with a commercial element.
Samantha McFadden, director of property management for Apollo, said that a day-care centre will occupy commercial space.
“For Apollo, we saw there is a lack of needed housing in Chatham-Kent. When that location came up, that was the perfect opportunity,” she said.
She said the daycare should help attract families to the apartment building, adding every unit will feature two bedrooms.
As well, it could be of benefit for parents working in the downtown core.
“For that location,” she said of 25 Raleigh St., “it’s the convenience of being close to the downtown core. The day-care centre will be nice for people who work downtown. It should be easy for them to take their children there.”
The St. Clair Catholic District School board notified the municipality in November of 2019 it was going to dispose of the property. As a result, the municipality bought it the following August, and subsequently sold it to Apollo.
Construction will start as soon as possible, with the hope to have the renovations complete and units ready for lease by March of 2022.
“We’re really excited to get this project underway and excited to see the growth it will help bring to Chatham-Kent,” McFadden said.
Another reason we are in a housing crisis is that our government has allowed foreign investors such as the Chinese to buy up everything . Justin Trudeau has to do something ,it’s driving up prices too