Duane Hicks
The outlook is positive for the proposed La Verendrye Parkway Village condominium here, with eight of the 23 units already pre-sold after an open house last Wednesday at the Civic Centre.
Thunder Bay developer Robert Zanette is confident 15 units will be pre-sold so construction can begin by July.
“We’d like to get 15,” he noted. “We’re moving that number around a little bit because there seems so be a lot of momentum and we don’t want to miss another year.
“So, in a perfect world, 15 sales.
“If we’re a little short, chances are we’ll go anyway,” Zanette added.
The project first had been talked about in 2008, with an open house last held in May, 2009. But the project has gained a new head of steam.
“We’ve kind of rebuilt our team,” said Zanette. “We’ve got the local contractor [Ed Kaun & Sons] all set up, we’ve made all our final selections, we’ve added Kathy [Judson] from Re/Max.
“As the article in the paper [March 2 edition of the Times] indicated, I just got overwhelmed in Thunder Bay, so we’re restarting and hoping to get going by summertime.”
Zanette doesn’t feel the economy hasn’t negatively affected the project from the time it was first proposed.
“I think that’s a tribute to Ed Kaun & Sons,” he lauded. “We’ve stayed in contact with them, they’ve been really sharp with their pencil.
“The general contractor controls, essentially, millions and millions of dollars of the project through the construction process, and they’ve been a breath of fresh air.
“They’ve been able to hold the line and we’re holding the line on the prices, and away we go,
hopefully,” he remarked.
Zanette noted working with Ed Kaun & Sons has been productive.
“We’re probably 10 steps ahead of where we were last year when we released the project,” he said, adding the total project value is about $4.8 million.
For those who looked into the condo several years ago, Zanette said the design is the same.
“Depending on who you talked to, we had some pressure to make some changes, but the majority of the people liked the product, they liked the look of it, the mix—two- and three-bedroom units,” he explained.
“So we did look at that with our builder and our new realtor and the town officials and the existing buyers, and we just decided that we had it right the first time, and everything’s exactly the way it was.”
While there had been some concern last year from town council as to the status of the condo project, Zanette said the relationship remains positive.
“Town council has been behind this project 100 percent,” he stressed. “It’s been 100 percent my fault.
“I came to town council in January and just said, ‘Guys, I dropped the ball.’ It’s nothing the town council has done,” he recalled.
“They’ve been fully supportive, so I said, ‘If you still want me to go, I am going to regroup, get some help and some partners in on this thing, and we’re going to take it to a new level,’” added Zanette.
“I commend council—they haven’t wavered,” he reiterated. “The delay has been all on the developer.”
For those people just starting to look into buying a condo, Zanette said his project offers many benefits and a level of customization.
“The big thing is a lifestyle change,” he remarked. “With a condominium tenure, once you lock the door, everything’s done for you, right down to exterior window washing, cutting the grass, shovelling the snow, everything.
“What we’ve found in terms of customization is, we’d like to be a Ford assembly line but we just can’t,” he noted. “I would love to just build 23 of the exact same thing.
“[But] we’ve learned over time that just doesn’t work in a marketplace,” said Zanette. “We have to be as flexible as we have to be to meet the market.
“To take that all the way to another level, I would say almost every building now, we are building a handicapped unit or two—the bathrooms, the flooring products, lowering the light switches, all that—and we never did that 10 years ago,” he admitted.
“If that’s what we have to do, we’ll do it.”
Kathy Judson called last Wednesday’s open house a success, seeing about 40 people come by between 5-8:30 p.m.
“It was really, really excellent,” she enthused, adding the number of units pre-sold rose from six to eight at the open house, with a half-dozen more people expressing a keen interest.
Judson said the new condo project is creating a buzz.
“The general feeling was very good [at the open house],” she noted. “There were some really excellent questions which clarified a lot of the information.”
Judson also said she was interested to see people representing a wide range of ages looking at buying condos.
“Living in a condominium is a lifestyle change . . . so we’re getting a lot of interest from young people, as well as people who are looking at retirement and beyond.
“It’s a wide range we’re catering to,” she noted.
Judson felt having the marketing local and building contractor be local is a benefit, as well.
“We’ve still got all the expertise of Robert and his team around, but we’ve got the local element here with myself and [Ed Kaun & Sons], and I think that will help push it along,” she reasoned.
“And I think Fort Frances is ready for it now.”
The three-floor condo is proposed to be built on a riverfront lot at Front Street and Mosher Avenue (to the east of the current Riverwalk Condominiums).
The two- and three-bedroom units are estimated to cost between $189,000 and $259,000.
Those wanting more information about the new condo project are encouraged to contact Judson at 275-5633 or via e-mail at kathyjud@aol.com
