City seeking federal cash for Brock Mission rebuild
After redesign, new men’s shelter still $1.75M over original budget
The new design for the Brock Mission emergency shelter for men is still overbudget by about $1.75 million, but council isn’t being asked for more money, states a new city staff report, because the project appears to be eligible for new federal funding.
On Monday, city councillors will hear about the new $9.3 million redesign from local firm Lett Architects.
That’s $1,753,000 higher than the city’s budget of $7,547,000.
But the report doesn’t ask for additional money from city council because the city has applied for $5.3 million in loans and grants from the National CoInvestment Fund.
This $13.2-billion fund — part of the National Housing Strategy — is designed to help create and repair affordable housing across Canada.
The city has applied for this money and has met the preliminary eligibility requirements; a final decision is expected by March, states the report.
If the city gets that $5.3 million, states the report, they can combine it with $1,250,000 that the Brock has already fundraised, plus other grants and money set aside by the city, for a total of $9.3 million.
If council goes ahead with the plan, the staff report states that construction can start in spring for completion in late summer 2020.
The building is still expected have 30 emergency beds plus 15 rental rooms.
There’s a catch, however: the staff report recommends transferring ownership of the property to Brock Mission.
The city was going to own the property and the building (which the Brock Mission was going to lease).
But the staff report points out that the Brock — a Christian charity — is eligible for more federal funding, as the owner, than the city would be.
If the city doesn’t get the federal funding, the staff report states, it would have to get conventional financing.
Meanwhile the Brock Mission is now operating on a temporary basis in St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church.
Although the church — which was facing pricey structural repairs — sold to a developer in August, the staff report states
that the church will be remain available for use during construction of the new Brock.
The Brock Mission’s ramshackle building on Murray St. was torn down a year ago to make room for a new one, designed in 2014 by LGA Architectural Partners of Toronto.
In early summer, city staff gave a new report to councillors stating that the cost to build the LGA design in 2018 had increased by $3.2 million to $10.7 million.
That was too much for council, which voted to return the design to city staff to pare back costs before construction would be allowed to start.
The idea was to bring the cost back to its original budget of $7 million and re-tender.
Lett Architects, as the city’s design firm of record, was asked to redesign the building after LGA Architectural Partners told the city they couldn’t pare back the cost of their design to fit the city’s budget, states the staff report.“LGA Partners were not able to offer a competitive fee for a redesign and agreed not to continue with the project,” states the report.
Lett was paid $672,350 to design a new building, states the staff report; this cost, as well as the cost of demolishing the old Brock, are both included in the budget of $9.3 million.
Councillors meet to discuss this and other agenda items on Monday at 6 p.m. at City Hall.