Seniors complex project gives major boost to 2024 build figures

By Medicine Hat News on December 11, 2024.

Redeveloping the South Country Village seniors complex in southwest Medicine Hat will push city-wide building permits for 2024 well past last year’s totals.

The November report from the city’s planning and development department notes that work on a single new institutional project will add $43.8 million to the estimated construction value let by the department this year.

That refers to permits for demolishing and expanding the South Country facility, located on Bell Street near Gershaw Drive, and is large enough to push permit numbers $29 million above 2023 levels with one month remaining in the year.

The project was subject to a city council hearing related to zoning. Publicly available project data states the four-storey new build portion of work will proceed in two phases by Reinheller Builders.

Over all classes, 608 permits were issued to the end of November, worth $108.8 million. That compares to 614 worth $81.5 million in the same period of 2023.

Last year, new institutional spending was $20.6 million.

In the recent report, single-family home permits stayed even with last year in the struggling sector. Both years have seen 28 new projects permitted, while multi-unit construction is far outpacing the 2023 totals.

Last year only eight new apartment units were created, though nine new projects in 2024 will see 99 units brought on the market, at an expected construction value of $15.1 million.

The current year has seen a tripling of duplex construction, 18 this year worth $6 million, up from six last year.

New commercial permits were down by about half, to $4.3 million from $9.1 million last year, while commercial alterations were up about one-third to $17.7 million on a similar number of permits.

Institutional renovations were also down by a larger margin, totalling just $4.4 million in the last 11 months.