Although Brewer Lofts has been a long time coming, developer Greg Oldenburg said the project is not only very much still in the works, but getting bigger.
What was initially a 50-unit condominium project on Lorne Street is being reworked to accommodate an additional 14 units.
Eight additional units will be incorporated by adding 12,000 square feet of saleable space to a new five-storey building, while an additional six units will be added within the existing building.
Part of the expansion had to do with last year’s city council decision to loosen parking requirements for multi-unit dwellings from 1.5 spots per unit to one, which Oldenburg said freed up additional space.
“There’s a demand for this kind of product, because in Sudbury there aren’t many purchasable apartments, or condominiums,” Oldenburg told Sudbury.com, adding that while there are townhouses and older buildings in Greater Sudbury that are considered condominiums, “there’s no panache to it.”
On Monday, the city’s planning committee approved a one-year zoning application extension, which expires on Nov. 22 of this year. Although city council as a whole still needs to ratify the decision, their unanimous support on Monday makes it likely it clears that hurdle.
Extensions such as this have become an annual reminder of the day in 2016 when zoning was first approved a few years after Oldenburg purchased the building in 2012.
Every year for the past six years, he said he has aimed to get the project built the following year.
“This has been the biggest challenge of my life and I never thought it would be this difficult,” he said. “The project would have been done in April 2020 had they approved it then, just because I had everything lined up, but every year in November it’s an anniversary of when I first got the zoning.”
In 2017, Oldenburg sought $9.5 million in municipal grants, tax relief and a loan to redevelop the former Northern Breweries building, which closed in 2004. Included in the $9.5 million would have been an interest-free loan of $4.5 million under the city’s brownfield strategy program, which had an annual limit of $250,000.
City council rejected the request during 2018 budget deliberations.
Oldenburg subsequently put the building up for sale, but reaffirmed his dedication to the project the following year when city council agreed to a $4.1-million package over 10 years for it as long as Oldenburg met several benchmarks.
Moving forward, Oldenburg said the main holdup at the moment has to do with the business side of things, but that he’s making headway.
“I want to be done.”
