COVID, rising costs pointed at towards delay of construction for Lax Kw'alaams led 11th Avenue East housing complex

The progress for the Lax Kw'alaams WAAP Society Housing Apartment
building in Prince Rupert was part of a recent update for 
Lax Kw'alaams members 
(Image From Lax Kw'alaams website)

The status of the much anticipated 11th Avenue East apartment construction is still that of moving forward, though there have been delays, some of which were noted this week through the Lax Kw'alaams Band Council's Report to membership.

As we outlined earlier this morning, Mayor Garry Reece and the Band Council membership provided an extensive review of themes related to their work and plans for the Lax Kw'alaams community and of much interest should be the update on the plans for the 70 unit apartment project on 11th Avenue East in Prince Rupert.

In his briefing for the community Harvey Russell Junior made note of of some of the challenges that the project has faced since it was approved by Prince Rupert City Council in the fall of 2021.

Mr. Russell's update noting of the impact of COVID, rising costs and financing themes as part of the overview as well as to note that Coast Tsimshian Northern Contractors Alliance is the project manager for the development in Prince Rupert.

"WAAP Society recently issued its building permit for the 70 unit homes in Prince Rupert, were still looking forward to shovels in on this project. 

CTNCA which has partnered up with Lax Kw'alaams in the past is the project manager set to build the 70 units in Prince Rupert, which is just off of 11th Avenue directly across from Edward Avenue.

The Project was delayed due to the rising costs, as we know COVID had a huge impact on our economy. And the Bank of Canada raising their interest rates going up you know so the cost kept going up because of the funding delays that happened. "

At the end of 2022 it was anticipated that it would take 18-24 months for the apartment complex to be constructed and ready for occupancy. No revised timeline was noted from the presentation.

Some background on the Prince Rupert plans and the WAAP Society were included as part of the full report to the Lax Kw'alaams Membership which you can review here (see pages 6-9)

click on above to enlarge

Those travelling along 11th Avenue East of late have probably noticed that there does seem to be some preliminary work underway, with land clearing taking place, with the community benefiting from some free fire wood as part of the work underway in the wooded area off of Edwards and 11th East.

While Mr. Russell was enthusiastic about the future for the development, he did not provide for a definitive date towards the theme of shovels in the ground for the project, that perhaps to come a little further down the calendar.

More notes related to the 11th Avenue East project can be reviewed from our Prince Rupert 2030 Vision Tracker archive page here.

A wider overview of Prince Rupert Housing themes is available here.