Two new employee rental buildings in Cheakamus Crossing Phase 2 will soon begin construction thanks to funding approved by the Resort Municipality of Whistler's (RMOW) mayor and council.
On March 7, council gave first three readings to a Five-Year Financial Plan Bylaw amendment to use reserve funds to begin construction on 78 units of much-needed employee housing.
The project's funding will come from the Whistler 2020 Development Corporation (WDC) $11 million reserve, created through selling 24 private market lots in the River Run parcel (one sale is still pending) and the sale of employee ownership units at 1340 and 1360 Mount Fee.
Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton believes using the funds created through the first two buildings is a financially prudent use of the reserve, and will help the projects stay on schedule for finishing Phase Two within council's four-year term.
“Housing is our community’s top priority, and we’re pleased we’ve created this consistent path to continue this valuable work. By borrowing from the reserve, we’ve created a rolling funding model to build this neighbourhood with less financial risk,” said Crompton in a release.
With funding approved, construction will start in April on the first three-storey, 30-unit rental building, with construction of a second, four-storey building beginning the following month.
With 486 households on the Whistler Housing Authority (WHA) rental waitlist, construction of the rental units comes at a crucial time. The average wait time for a WHA rental is 3.4 years for a two-bedroom apartment, 4.4 years for a one-bedroom apartment, and 2.2 years for a studio.
Once completed, the buildings will provide 159-bed units in four studio apartments, 46 one-bedrooms and 28 two-bedrooms.
While the project's funding is significant, it will only cover up to a year of construction. The RMOW will have to find more capital to cover additional costs for construction, noted Councillor Jeff Murl at the council meeting.
"I just want to point out that tons of work went into getting to this point, and the numbers, $10 million and $15 million, seem great, but I want to point out the challenges that we face going forward to that. $10 million will last a year on construction at the pace if we want to maintain it,” Murl said. “We have a lot of challenges ahead to continue to find money and get creative with limited resources. We have to keep up the pace we've set, so we have a lot of challenges ahead."
The WDC is projecting about a 15-per-cent increase in construction costs for the two buildings compared to the first two builds in Phase 2, due to rising prices for materials and labour. Interest rates have also risen from 2.7 per cent, when the WDC financed the first building in Phase 2, to closer to 5.7 per cent now.
All in, the estimated cost for the two buildings is $32 million—$12.7 million for the three-story, 30-unit building and $19.5 million for the four-storey.
If all goes according to plan, the first building in Lot 2 will finish construction in the early summer of 2024, with the second building shortly behind in the fall of next year.
