Group Plans Apartments For Seniors
An increasingly greying population in Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District is prompting Ontario Finnish Resthome Association to build an 81-unit apartment building for seniors.
It’s OFRA’s first major construction project in more than 20 years. The structure is also part of an ambitious plan to dramatically increase the number of beds OFRA offers older residents in the next decade.
The project, budgeted at $16 million, will include 52 one-bedroom units and 29 two-bedroom apartments. The units will be 575 or 725 square feet.
Monthly rent, including utilities, will be about $900 and $1200.
There’s also a potential for 17 life-leases, or 10 one-bedroom and 7 two-bedroom units, on the top floor. Purchasers could sell the units back to OFRA. Sale price, and maintenance fee, were not available.
The five-storey building will go up on a hill on the northwest corner of OFRA’s property on North Street. It will stand between three existing properties and Kiwedin public school.
OFRA, a non-profit charitable organization formed in 1971, plans to do road work leading to the new site this year with construction to start in 2014 and occupancy by early 2015.
The units, acknowledging the older demographic who will reside there, include no-slip flooring in bathrooms, showers with grab bars, wider hallways and levered handles.
There’s a number of special rooms planned for the building designed by architect David Ellis including space for computers, carpentry and artists.
About 20% of Algoma District residents are 65 and older. That number “is expected to grow exponentially over the next two decades,” reads OFRA’s case for support explaining the new project.
“If we hope to meet the growing need for safe, accessible and affordable housing for our seniors in the coming years, steps need to be taken now.”
The project is also prompted by a dearth of affordable housing for seniors in Sault Ste. Marie, said OFRA fundraising campaign assistant Kim Cyr.
“There’s nowhere for them to live,” she said.
The new building will “try and alleviate some of that pressure in the district of Algoma,” said Cyr.
There’s a six-year waiting list of people who want to live at OFRA’s 27-acre site. Other affordable housing options for seniors include Lions Place on Bay Street and Columbian Towers operated by Knights of Columbus on Northern Avenue East.
The project will be the fourth major build on the property. Suomi Eesti Maja, OFRA’s current four-storey independent living building with 134 units, went up in 1976. It was followed by Kotitalo, an assisted living facility with 102 rooms, in 1982 and Mauno Kaihla Koti, a 60-bed nursing home, in 1991.
OFRA has received about 150 applications from persons interested in living in the new building.
They include current occupants of Suomi Eesti Maja, city residents who plan to downsize and persons who’ve inquired about living in a OFRA unit.
OFRA administration decide who will live in the new building.
“The waiting list is managed on a first-come, first-serve basis,” said Kim LeBlanc-Turpin, director of the fundraising campaign.
“The usual standard reference check (ie. credit check and history of tenancy) as with any rental facility, applies. Applications will be reviewed against the policy once the building is ready for occupancy.”
OFRA wants to raise $4 million in the next two years with its campaign, Uusi Koti-A New Home: Campaign for Seniors Independent Living. A mortgage will be taken out for the remaining $12 million. There is no government funding for the building.
Naming opportunities start at $5,000. Rights for the building cost $1.5 million. Several families and Ontario Finnish Resthome Association Foundation have already snapped up several rooms.
A major fundraiser, A Brush with Art, is planned for April 20 at Algoma’s Water Tower Inn. Cocktails start at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. Menu items include salmon potato chowder, butternut squash ravioli with maple cream sauce and charbroiled sirloin wrapped in applewood bacon with peppercorn sauce.
An artist emporium runs from 6 to 10 p.m. in the hotel’s atrium. Participating talent includes Doug Hook, James Evans, Heather Horton and Chris MacClure.
A live auction with Vernon Bailey begins at 9 p.m.
Tickets cost $100 and include a tax receipt for $25.
Call 705-945-9987, ext. 257 to purchase.
Tax deductible donations can be mailed to 721 North St., Sault Ste. Marie, P6B 5T7. By telephone, call 705-945-9987, ext. 256, 257 or 258. Online contributions can be made at www.uusikoticampaign.com
Cheques should be made payable to OFRA.
The group’s 10-year growth plan includes erecting a new nursing home near the soon-to-be constructed apartment building and converting Mauno Kaihla Koti to an assistive living facility. The new nursing home may include two palliative rooms.
