Orillia’s affordable housing committee heard a presentation Thursday from a developer looking to turn Crunch Fitness and its parking lot into an affordable housing complex for vulnerable seniors.
Sionito Community Development Corporation (SCDC) wants to develop a four-storey apartment building with surface-level parking and "appropriate" indoor and outdoor amenity spaces at 26 West St. N.
Bryce Taylor, the CEO of SCDC, says the development company is looking for properties in small-town Ontario after developing similar complexes in Toronto.
Taylor says his company currently has “control of the property” on West Street North, but they haven’t closed a deal as of yet.
He said the approximately 5,456-square-metre affordable housing complex will have 101 total units made up of 63 studio units, 31 single-bedroom units, and seven two-bedroom units.
The SCDC will lean on Tiomara Management and Development Corporation, who are experts in mental health, to help hire staff for the complex. There will be dining, cleaning, and housekeeping services all included for residents. Taylor estimates that it will create around 30 jobs for local people.
Taylor says the units will be open to “frail seniors with a mental health challenge” who are lower income earners.
“Everybody we talk to at the council level and the affordable housing level seems to feel this is a pretty strong need. There is a similar 25-unit facility here that has a dine-in facility also, and that group says that they are getting phone calls all of the time," he said, referencing Hillcrest Lodge.
SCDC has had several meetings with various stakeholders dating back to November 2022. Company officials have also met with municipal, county, and provincial representatives to get the plan off the ground.
“Developers are used to being pushed back, it’s usually a tough fight,” Taylor said. “We have none of that here, everyone is welcoming us in and asking how they can help us get here.”
Taylor says they are working to secure funding support from the County of Simcoe and the City of Orillia.
“If they don’t have the funds themselves, they have to start talking to the province,” he said. “We know that the province gave $9 million to the county, and we know they have $21 million in the county area, so there is money here.”
If there is strong political and public support for the facility to be built, Taylor says it will happen “for sure.” He also says it takes 24 months to build such a facility and the project is still three years down the road.
Coun. Jay Fallis, who is council's representative on the affordable housing committee, says he believes the project is a good one for the city.
"There are a lot of pieces of the project that say to me that it's going to really benefit Orillia," he said. "Not only in the design, it adds to our downtown, it's a medium density build, it has great aesthetic features, and it's also meeting a need for a population that we really need to assist."
The need is huge, he added.
"Our population is aging," he said. "We have a lot of challenges with those who have mental health issues, and we need to provide more affordable housing. It literally checks every box, and it's centrally located which I think is another benefit, too."
