99-unit apartment building on Charlottetown waterfront to include public art gallery

Details are being finalized on a new $30-million, eight-storey apartment complex on the Charlottetown waterfront that developer Tim Banks says could end up being one of the "premier properties in the city."

The city and Pan American Properties signed a development agreement over the winter for the 99-unit building on Haviland Street. It will be located near the boardwalk between the Queen Charlotte Armoury, the Culinary Institute of Canada and the Renaissance Place apartment building.

The design has already been approved by the city, said Greg Rivard, chair of the planning committee.

Tim Banks, president of Pan American Properties, said he hopes to begin construction by August, and expects it will take up to two years to complete.

It'll have everything from a gym to a dog wash.— Tim Banks

The steel and concrete structure will include seven storeys of apartments and two floors of parking, one of which will be underground, he said.

"It's probably going to be one of the premier properties in the city so we're making sure that we're spending a lot of time on the detail of it," he said.

"For me personally, it's probably one of the larger-scale projects that we've brought to P.E.I."

Banks said drawings are about 80 per cent complete. The design includes environmental features such as exterior green walls — where living plants make up a large portion of the end walls — as well as solar panels on the roof and a bicycle storage area. 

"It'll have everything from a gym to a dog wash," he said. "There will be a public art gallery — a space within the building that will be open to the public — so we're pretty excited about it."

Banks said rents at the new apartment building will be about 15 per cent higher than apartments already in the Charlottetown market. He said the project will provide local jobs and, when complete, help ease a tight housing market that needs more than affordable units.

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