Hope is to break ground for new Villa Acadienne in 2020
Existing facility in Meteghan has 86 beds; new one will have 96
Six months after the announcement that a new facility would be built to replace Villa Acadienne in Meteghan, a spokesperson for the villa’s board of directors says things are progressing and they hope to break ground this year.
The project is in the design phase. Once this is done and a cost figure is attached to the project, it will have to be approved by the province’s Department of Finance and Treasury Board, said Marcel Cottreau, who chairs the Villa Acadienne board of directors.
The new long-term care facility will have 96 beds, 10 more than the existing one. It will be built on another property in Meteghan.
The project went through a schematic design phase, Cottreau said, and is now into a more refined design period.
“Hopefully the design phase will soon be finished and we’ll have Treasury Board approval and then we’ll be able to announce that we’re going to tender,” Cottreau said. “Things are still moving forward.”
Official word that Villa Acadienne would be replaced came early last July, when the project was announced by Randy Delorey, Nova Scotia’s minister of health and wellness.
The new facility will be located at a site not far from the present one.
“The land’s been acquired,” Cottreau said. “People would know it by where the Clare
Bluegrass Festival has been held the last number of years. It’s that property.”
As for the province’s role in the project, Heather Fairbairn, media relations adviser with the health and wellness department, said, “Our department is working collaboratively with Villa Acadienne to help finalize their costing estimates and will provide general assistance and guidance as the construction project moves along.”
As the owner and operator, she said, Villa Acadienne will be responsible for managing the project and overseeing construction.
Villa Acadienne opened in 1975 and initially was a 45-bed facility, eventually increasing to its present level of 86 beds.
Last summer, when the health minister officially announced the community would get a new, 96bed home, Cottreau was among those welcoming the announcement, calling it “great news for both Villa Acadienne and our entire community.”