In spite of the fact that approval has been obtained and the Kelsey Apartments have been separately titled, the building’s owner, Victory Majors Investment Co. has decided to abandon its plans to sell the units off. Kay Nasser, founder of the company has announced that they will hold onto all 77 units and rent them out.
The original plan was to create “luxury condo units,” but skyrocketing construction costs got in the way. Nasser told Star Phoenix business editor, Murray Lyons, “The market wasn’t there and we couldn’t get people to do the work. It was getting prohibitively expensive.”
The Kelsey has been renamed, the “Phoenix” and the property manager will begin showing the vacant 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments to prospective renters this weekend.
Given the extremely low vacancy rates for apartments in Saskatoon, I think we can see this as a pretty positive story. Does it finally make more sense for owners to hold and rent the apartments that they own? Could this be the first sign of a turn around that works in favour of local renters? Only time will tell, but in the mean time, 77 new apartment vacancies certainly can’t hurt.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.
All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
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