Housing Cambridge to tear down the Satellite Motel and replace with some affordable housing
Posted Sep 28, 2017 04:33:13 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The some what iconic Satellite Motel in Cambridge, that is the one with the rocket out front, is getting a face lift, of sorts.
The motel will be torn down and in its place something far better will take shape.
With funding from the region of Waterloo, the Federal and Provincial government, and partnered with Hamilton based company New Horizons Developments, Housing Cambridge will construct two mid level high rises.
New Horizons Development will have one of the buildings and the other belongs solely to Housing Cambridge.
Within the new Housing Cambridge complex, “ours is going to be a building that includes affordable housing, it will be 56 units, made up of 34 one bedroom apartments and 22 two bedroom apartments, out of that 56 units we are going to have 33 units that are affordable,” said Steve Garrison, General Manager for Housing Cambridge, Home Concept Property Management.
Building a new complex is not cheap, but how will Housing Cambridge be able to create 33 affordable housing units? “The money is coming form Federal and Provincial governments, and it is administered through the Region of Waterloo they are essentially providing grant funding for 33 of the 56 units and that will allow us to reduce the rents for those units to a below market average rent,” says Garrison.
As for the location of the new buildings, Garrison says “it is right on the main transportation hub and generally people with low or modest income, many of them don’t have a cars, it is close to shopping and amenities… there is a grocery store just down the road and schools. It is a very central location.”
Garrison adds that they do have budgets in place and for Housing Cambridge’s building, which includes purchasing the land and construction, the cost will be $12.8 million.
