A London-area development firm wants to help alleviate Chatham’s housing crunch.
York Developments is seeking official plan and zoning amendments for 770 St. Clair St. in Chatham’s north end to put up four towers of apartments, totalling 774 residential units.
On the table is a project that would feature two 14-storey and two 12-storey buildings.
The property is currently zoned commercial.
Frank Gerrits of York Developments, said the company is pivoting on the property because “there’s quite a need for housing these days.” It was earmarked for a home improvement store.
Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff said he sees this as another indicator the municipality is continuing to grow. He added the developer has a good track record in Chatham, where it has developed several commercial properties.
“York Developments has already proven to be a great developer in our community, and I am very pleased that they have continued to invest in Chatham-Kent,” Canniff said in a media release. “Chatham-Kent is growing, and I’m excited to see these new buildings take shape over the next few years.”
Ryan Jacques, director of planning services for the municipality, said the municipality wanted to make the proposal known to the public and stressed there will be public meetings on the proposed project about 20 days before it would go before council, which should happen later this summer.
Jacques said one of the towers could go up in short order, but infrastructure limitations will impact the construction time frames of the other three.
“Under the planning framework, there’s the ability to build one tower of 206 units now,” he said. “There’s a sanitary sewer improvement required before anything else could be done.”
About 300 metres of sanitary sewers – from Maryknoll Road to Gregory Drive – would need to be upgraded.
As for when York Developments breaks ground on the project, Gerrits said it is too early to say, as the official plan must be amended in C-K, and the zoning change must be approved.
“Chatham-Kent hopefully wants to move this along too,” he said.
Jacques said, if approved, he expects the first tower would be built as soon as possible. Once the sewer issue is addressed, he predicted the company would put up the others “as the local market requires. We anticipate it will be phased in over the course of time.”
York Developments is a family operated business based out of London, Ont. It is actively working on 10 new commercial developments and 11 new residential developments.
To learn more, visit the municipal website and click on Planning and Development under Business and Growth.
