Meeting aims to gauge interest in new condo

FORT FRANCES—The Town of Fort Frances will be holding a meeting this fall to gauge interest from potential property developers and unit buyers to see if building another condominium here is a feasible venture down the road.
Local economic development officer Geoff Gillon said the meeting is a follow-up from last year, when the town requested expressions of interest in developing the Front Street property located east of the Riverwalk Condominiums.
While two parties expressed interest in the property at that time, neither wanted to pursue a condominium-type development, Gillon noted.
“So what I’ve been directed to do by council is to hold an information and investigation meeting to find out who in the community is interested, on some level, in a condominium development,” he remarked.
“Basically, what we got from the expression of interest [last time] is we need a better sense of the market, and what people want, what they’re prepared to pay, etc.
“That’s what this meeting’s for. There’s no plans or anything like that,” he stressed.
Gillon conceded more details will have to be worked out prior to the condo meeting, which won’t take place until late September or October, but getting people to start thinking about it now doesn’t hurt.
He reiterated the meeting is to see if a new condo project is worth pursuing.
“We’ve heard there’s a waiting list for condominiums in the [current] building,” Gillon noted. “We did an expression of interest, and the developers weren’t interested in that kind of development.
“So, I guess the next step is should the town go further? Well, there’s no sense in going anywhere unless there’s some kind of a market out there.
“We can’t tell what people want—I don’t what level they would want to buy one at or any of that stuff,” Gillon said. “That’s what this is all about. Information gathering is the thing before anything else happens.
“Then we’ll bring that information back to council, and maybe council will pursue it, maybe they won’t. It will all depend.”
Gillon said if any condo development was to take place, it likely would be on the lot of land just east of the Riverwalk Condominiums.
“It’s the more opportune spot, but that’s not necessarily the only spot,” he noted.
Gillon also said he’s aware of a lot of interest in housing in Fort Frances right now—and thinks the time is right to bring up the topic of condos again.
“I know the mill is hiring; it was in the [newspaper] last week,” he remarked. “I’ve seen a lot of ‘sold’ signs going up on apartment buildings and houses across town the last couple of weeks.
“I think there’s people moving around, and it’s a good time to investigate this,” Gillon said.
(Fort Frances Times)