A residential development planned for New Liskeard is offering residents a new housing option, while potentially adding significant revenue to the municipality’s tax base.
Beach Garden Condominiums is a proposed 82-home waterfront residential development, encompassing 19 single-home dwellings and 63 condominium units, being constructed by Rivard Bros., a local contractor with 60 years’ experience of building locally.
Patrick Rivard, a partner — with two brothers and his father — in the company, said they were looking for a development to retain residents, help local development, and boost the city’s coffers.
“This property is the last acreage on the lakefront in the City of Temiskaming Shores,” Rivard said. “Why not try and do something that would make the area stand out compared to other small communities in the North?”
Located in three towers, each with 21 units, the condos will range in size from 1,088 square feet to 1,570 square feet, with nine-foot ceilings, large windows, laminate and tile flooring, and designer kitchen and bathroom fixtures.
A 2,676-sqare-foot common building will feature a patio, exercise facility, fireside lounge and pool table, and a kitchenette, where residents can plan anniversary parties, birthdays and other get-togethers.
The single-dwelling homes feature on-slab construction and attached garages, “which gives you your own yard, but you also get that maintenance-free living — the condo corp takes care of that,” Rivard said.
John Gauvreau, a real estate agent with Century 21 who’s been involved with the project since its inception four years ago, said the site has had several incarnations over the years: garden market, campsite, and convenience store, and it’s located alongside the site of the town’s former mile-long rail spur.
The land now backs onto a recreation trail, and the beach and athletic fields are nearby.
In order to move to the development phase, the company must presell 42 of the 63 units, or two of the three towers, Gauvreau said. In the two weeks following its April 15 start date, the company had sold 12.
“If we reach our targets by the deadline of late September, we expect construction to start in the fall,” he said. “The construction period will probably be 18 to 20 months, so we’re looking at about two years from now that people are going to get possession of their lakefront luxury living accommodations.”
Gauvreau said the development is attracting a more mature demographic: retired or retiring people who are downsizing after a long working life and who don’t want to worry about home maintenance while enjoying travel and other endeavours.
The Beach Garden development also makes waterfront living more attainable. Last year, Gauvreau said, a client paid $300,000 just for a waterfront lot; construction on the land could put a single-dwelling development into the seven digits, he added.
“It’s going to provide people with the opportunity to live on the water and have a great new home for many years,” Gauvreau said. “And we’re also very confident that the resale is going to be very strong when they come for resale in five or 10 years.”
Gauvreau estimates the project will add about $250,000 to the municipal tax base, in addition to the support from new homeowners who will boost the economy by spending their money at local businesses.
“If the market steps up and reserves their units, then there could be some very positive news for the entire area,” he said. “Those families coming to live there are going to support our restaurants, they’re going to support our garages and all our different little businesses, and that’s important.”
