Two of the 17 sold units at the new River Walk condominium on Front Street were open for occupancy as of last week, with more on the way over the next few weeks.
“It’s an ongoing process,” Fort Frances CAO Bill Naturkach said Thursday.
“We had two of the units certified for occupancy by our building inspector, plus certain areas, such as the entranceway and hallways,” he noted.
“One family moved in last Friday, I believe.
“We’re expecting more to ready any hour, any day now,” he added. “We’re making sure the suites are livable. We can’t have them ready all at once.
“Every unit doesn’t have its own contractors working on it,” he stressed.
All of the sold units should be ready in the next few weeks, said Naturkach, with construction then to wrap up on the display suite and finally the unsold units.
Some of the unsold ones will meet the standards of the basic package while others will be left partly finished to allow for any modifications prospective owners might want.
Work on the sold suites has been priorized as to how soon the owners would like to—or must—move in, said Naturkach, noting some owners live in the U.S. and are in no hurry to move here this winter.
Initially, owners of the pre-sold units in the 32-unit complex were told they would be able to move in by Dec. 1. But that had to be pushed back to Dec. 20 in November, and then Jan. 15 in December.
With more owners poised to move in soon, and the town and developer Penn-Co Construction Canada Ltd. still looking to sell 15 more units, Naturkach said the Fort Frances Non-profit Housing Committee has been meeting more and more frequently.
It also will meet with Ernest Penner, head of Penn-co, next week to discuss marketing the condominium.
In related news, Donna Lee has been hired to serve as project manager at the condo, and will be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the complex.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
