A big piece of the housing puzzle in Hay River is going to be solved this coming summer.
Rowe’s Realty announced earlier this month that the Riverside Suites complex on Capital Drive is set to open up on July 1. It’s a four-storey building with a total of 44 units consisting of a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.
Terry Rowe with Rowe’s Realty said the announcement was a long time coming.
“It’s taken us a couple of years and we had some issues outside of construction, but we wanted to meet that date on July 1,” he said.
Those issues include evacuations due to the wildfires in 2023 and floods in 2022, as well as the pandemic, Rowe added.
But there was never any doubt that it wouldn’t open.
“Hay River is a resilient town,” he said.
The units measure between 777 and 1,075 sq. ft. Each suite has its own laundry facilities and there are some suites which have additions to help people who have issues with accessibility.
There’s also heated underground parking, something which isn’t commonplace in the NWT.
“I think there’s only one or two other places in Yellowknife that have an underground parkade,” said Rowe.
The town was very happy to hear about the developments involving Riverside.
Glenn Smith, the town’s senior administrative officer, told NNSL Media on Monday that the new complex would address one of the housing gaps in the Hay River Strategic Housing Plan, which was announced in April 2023 as a joint partnership between the town and Housing NWT.
The plan was to introduce 140 units into the market over a five-year period and Riverside Suites was a part of that original plan.
“Adding over 40 multifamily units to the market is expected to provide a significant benefit to housing in the community,” said Smith. “It provides options for current residents looking to upgrade or downsize, which will open up other housing opportunities in the community, and it will accommodate people looking to relocate to the community to fill vacant positions with employers.”
There is a wait list that existed before the announcement was made, said Rowe, and the job now is to reach out and see who’s interested.
But he said anyone who wants to apply to be considered can do so.
“I think we’ll see the applications start to roll in here soon,” he said. “There’s real demand for something like this and I’m confident we’ll be able to start moving people in on the advertised opening date.”
As for other developments in town, Smith said things are proceeding in the right direction.
“Fraser Place is scheduled for construction completion this year with lot sales to follow as soon as this year,” he said. “A detailed design for Sundog was completed through federal support over the last year for the mixed use space. The town is currently in discussions with a developer for a portion of the land and otherwise will be seeking funding sources over the coming years to support infrastructure required for future housing, and commercial, development in the area.”
Smith added that the town is making progress on the Aspen Heights residential land development area and is planning to seek proposals from developers as early as this year.
-By Amanda Rumbolt, with files from James McCarthy
