There will be shovels in the ground by next summer for a five-storey building with four floors of seniors rental housing and a first floor with a custom mental health and wellness centre for young people, predicts the executive director of the Terrace and District Community Services Society.
“It’s a go,” said Michael McFetridge reacting to the Dec. 13 news of a $500,000 grant from the province for a building destined for the vacant lot beside the society’s headquarters on the corner of Eby and Lazelle Ave.
The building itself will be on the corner of Eby and Park and will face Park, transforming the landscape in that part of the city. BC Housing had already confirmed the seniors housing money but the society needed the grant to kickstart a fundraising campaign to raise the money for the first floor construction, he said.
“That’s what we’ll be starting in January,” said McFetridge of the campaign to raise the several million dollars needed for the first floor. “We’re taking on financial risk but now that we’ve been fortunate to receive that $500,000 we’re confident we can start.”
The youth mental health and wellness centre is called Foundry, one of a province-wide network of services specifically for young people from 12 to 24. It’s now housed on the first floor of the society’s headquarters building.
While Foundry is a service provided by the society under contract to the provincial government, the BC Housing agency will be responsible for the seniors housing.
McFetridge said the joining of seniors housing with the Foundry centre in one building means there will be cost-beneficial construction efficiencies.
Both seniors and youth will be nearby to needed services thanks to the downtown location.
The layout of the Foundry’s first floor space will include treatment rooms for physicians, rooms for counselling, a kitchen for meal preparation and life skills training, and washroom amenities.