128-unit LTC facility announced with summer 2022 opening

Construction on a new, $35-million, long-term care facility in south Medicine Hat will proceed this summer toward a 2022 opening.

Points West Living told the News on Thursday that phase 1 of a planned care facility and seniors apartment complex will employ about 100 permanent staff when complete.

This week, Medicine Hat city planners issued a development permit to build the 128-unit complex on Strachan Road.

The project, announced in mid-2018, will be situated south of the Medicine Hat Nissan dealership that opened this summer in the Canalta real estate development at 1713 Strachan Rd.

The developer, Calgary-based Connecting Care, operates Points West-branded communities in 14 mid-sized and smaller communities in Western Canada.

The initial facility in Medicine Hat will include 64 units dedicated to dementia care and the same number for other seniors experiencing frailty.

The similarly-sized apartment block would be added in the future, but there is no immediate timeline.

The project came under scrutiny in 2018 when members of the neighbouring Chartwell Gardens, a bare-land community, raised concerns about the height of the proposed four-storey building. At that time city planners recommended a variance that would see only a portion of one roof line rise above the maximum allowable height of 18 metres.

The structure would be located 22 metres, or about 70 feet, away from the property line across a walking path and municipal right of way, according to documents presented at that time.

Construction will be carried out by Eagle Builders out of Blackfalds, Alta. Work on the prefabricated concrete panel building will begin this spring or summer.