Condo question— why does Sudbury lag behind other northern Ontario cities?

Construction season is underway in northern Ontario, including on some new condominium projects.

But Sudbury, the region's largest city, lags behind smaller centres when it comes to condos. 

North Bay has about a third the population, but has about twice as many condos as Sudbury, while Sault Ste. Marie, has about the same, with half the people. 

"Sudbury doesn't have the culture of condominium," says Greg Oldenburg, the developer behind the Brewer Lofts.

His plan to convert the old Northern Breweries plant into 50 condo lofts was announced in 2014 and is hopeful that construction will start in the spring of 2022. 

He believes some of the delay is trying to sell local buyers on the condominium concept itself. 

CONDOMINIUM UNITS IN THE NORTH

• Sudbury and district 924 
• North Bay and Nipissing 1,627
• Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma 875
• Thunder Bay 1,933
• Timmins and Cochrane 491
• Temiskaming 51

Oldenburg says in Toronto and smaller southern cities like Kitchener and Guelph, condominium developer is "satisfying population growth much easier than it would be to built 100 homes" where in Sudbury the population is mostly stagnate. 

Other high profile condominium developments in Sudbury have also been stalled, including Panoramic Properties's plan to turn the old general hospital into 210 condo units, first approved in 2012. 

Zulich Enterprises is one of Sudbury's biggest developers, but brothers John and Paul Zulich say they decided a few years ago to stay out of the condominium business.

They say most home buyers in northern Ontario are looking for a backyard and a spot to barbecue, one of the reasons they are building new semi-detached homes in the Minnow Lake neighbourhood purely for the rental market.

"It is a block of air that you're buying," Paul Zulich says of high rise condos. 

"I think it's more of a psychological issue with a lot of people in northern Ontario. Can't wrap their heads around it."

John Zulich, a director of Zulich Homes, says condos built in Sudbury in years past have not increased in value nearly as much as a single family home.

He says there is a lot of "headwind" from the pandemic, which could see more young professionals move north and the red hot single family home market could widen the price gap between houses and condos. 

"Now that distance is starting to get larger, you might see a good reason for a condo development in Sudbury," he says. 

One answer for why Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay are ahead of Sudbury in the condo game is the waterfront.

Rick Miller, a surveyor and director with the North Bay and District Homebuilders Association, says most condos in the city have been built along Lake Nipissing.

He feels that the high-end developments geared to seniors that went up in the 1970s and 80s made buyers more comfortable with the idea of condo ownership. 

"I think it's more just a public perception of what condominiums are," says Miller.

"Now with the market today, I think a lot of these things are probably going to change."

The latest condo project to generate buzz in North Bay is three towers with 60 units each planned for an old industrial property known as the "Kenroc" site.

North Bay city council last week voted to sell the property for $25,000, noting that the agreement calls for the land to be returned to the city is construction deadlines are not met. 

New Vision Park director Brannyn Hale says the market for lakefront condos in North Bay is still hungry for more units. 

"Well, I think it's very undersatisfied," he says. "There's certainly the demand for it, just not the level of supply you'd expect to see."

Miller thinks younger families who are getting priced out of the house market will turn to condos, but says one of the main things holding the northern market back is that the units "haven't appreciated in value... nearly as much"' as single family homes.

One model becoming popular in North Bay is vacant land condominiums, where buyers build and own the houses that sit on property owned by the condo corporation.

"You would almost never recognize it as a condominium development," says Beverley Hillier, manager of planning and building services for the City of North Bay.

It's a similar story in Sault Ste. Marie, where condo buildings are concentrated along the St. Mary's River and have in the past been most popular among seniors.

Real estate broker Jamie Caicco says the conversations he had in years past about condos have changed. 

"'I've had my home for 30 years and I'm spending just as much for an apartment?'" he says. 

"People recognize the lifestyle you have with it."