NEW SUBDIVISION
Joneljim inching toward goal of selling first lots in Cossitt Heights subdivision
Lots nearly ready for sale at Cossitt Heights.
After a nearly two-year delay, lots will soon be available for sale in the new Cossitt Heights subdivision.
Joneljim Concrete Construction Ltd. has built a small street network and has installed and connected water and sewer lines to the municipal system over the past few years.
Phase 1 and phase 2 of the project, in partnership with Picket Fence Homes of Halifax, began about a year after Joneljim bought the Cossitt Heights land assembly from the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in 2012 for $500,000.
It was part of a land swap agreement the municipality had with Joneljim.
The company agreed to pass ownership of a parcel of land on Kings Road across from Wentworth Park to the municipality that enabled it to build a needed sewage lift station. Joneljim paid the assessed value of the Cossitt Heights land assembly, which was offset by the land transfer agreement.
The CBRM had been seeking a residential developer for the subdivision that’s located off Upper Prince Street in Sydney since 2007.
The 120-hectare development continues to plan for 350 housing units ranging from single detached homes to senior apartments, single-level townhouses and semi-detached homes to be built over the next decade.
When Joneljim presented the plan to CBRM council in March 2012, it expected by year five of the project an estimated 200 housing units would have been built and another 150 units by the end of the 10-year time frame.
Despite the slow pace of work on the site, the company remains confident there is a demand for new housing in Sydney.
Everett Knickle, a controller with Joneljim Construction, said a work crew is currently working on fixing some “deficiencies” found in manhole covers and sidewalks that were discovered after an inspection.
Following that work, the lots will be subdivided in order to begin selling them.
“We had to put sidewalks and asphalt in and all that sort of thing and it took a little longer than we expected,” said Knickle, who noted the construction equipment was also used on other projects, accounting for part of the delay in the build.
The lots will range in price from $20,000 to $50,000, he added.
It’s expected the project will also include walking and biking trails, a boardwalk and recreation fields while maintaining the surrounding wetlands.
The intention is to use green technologies in the construction, including wood pellet stoves, geothermal heating and solar energy.
CBRM director of planning Malcolm Gillis said he is “surprised” that it took this long to get to this stage of development.
“They’ve done work installing services there but there’s been no development … so if it’s happening this spring, then good,” he said.
He could not confirm whether a subdivision development permit had been granted by the municipality in the past few days.
Knickle said the project won’t expand to phase three until the level of demand for new housing construction on the first two phases is determined.
“Once we get going it may be the same 10-year (time frame) or quicker, it depends on the demand,” he said.
The current state of the economy — with an unemployment rate of 13.7 per cent and reports indicating one-third of children in the CBRM are living below the poverty line — does not appear to be a barrier which dictates the speed of construction.
“Once you start getting some activity going up there and you put some new homes up there, people like to buy new homes … and things will start to move,” said Knickle.
There will be spec homes built that will be available for purchase but he couldn’t say how many will be erected.
He estimated a standard single detached one-level home could be priced at between $175,000 and $200,000 including the cost of the lot.
At the time of the land purchase, CBRM council and municipal staff found Joneljim’s proposed development impressive as it would be the first planned residential subdivision in the region where buyers would not only purchase the lot from the developer but the home as well, working with the contractor on all the details that accompany the construction process from floor layout to the choice of bathroom tiles.