$52-million affordable housing project in Cambridge found a developer

Regional council has officially approved a new developer for an upcoming affordable housing project in Cambridge.

The project, set to be constructed at 589 Langs Dr., is set to be funded through the 2024-2033 Waterloo Region Housing Master Plan Capital Program, expected to cost over $52 million in total. The motion to approve the new developer was unanimously accepted.

This comes after council approved plans for the development back in February of 2023, where it approved the zoning by-law amendment for the project, with various public engagement activities having taken place since.

Norlon Builders, a London, Ontario-based construction company, has been selected for the project after submitting an offer over that came in $2 million under the next closest. Council weighed offers from Melloul-Blamey Construction Inc. in Waterloo, Traugott Building Contractors in Cambridge, as well as Maystar General Contractors Inc. in Vaughn.

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The company has primarily focused on automotive, commercial, and institutional projects, including much of the recent developments at Western University as well as various projects through the media and entertainment chain, Cineplex. It has also constructed other residential units including another affordable housing project in Sarnia, but the upcoming Cambridge project will be the largest residential project for the company, with 136 total units in the 7-storey development.

Units in the building will range from one to five-bedrooms, all built with a focus on affordable options for the local community, in line with the Region of Waterloo’s latest 2023-2027 Corporate Strategic Plan. This will also be the third project built under the council-approved Waterloo Region Housing Master Plan.

Along with the focus on affordable living, the development will also be constructed with solar and geothermal energy sources, helping it to produce net-zero carbon emissions. The region’s cost consultant has said this will mean a 10 per cent cost premium overall compared to conventional construction, but noted the investment will result in a better designed building as well as future savings compared with retrofitting a building in a similar way in the future.

The project will also include space for the Langs Drive Youth Centre, a local non-profit organization that was operating on the property before the re-development began. The inclusion is said to have been designed in close collaboration with the Youth Centre team, working to maintain the accessible needs throughout the space.

With the approval, the affordable housing project is now set to begin in October later this year, with the building currently scheduled to be finished by December of 2026.