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tions, and John himself.
The company’s first project was
a 28-unit, four-storey condo-
minium in downtown St. Cath-
arines, which was built for ap-
proximately $5.5 million and
was fully occupied at opening
in 2014. Following that, they
constructed two seven-storey
student apartment rental build-
ings, which officially opened
in 2016 with just over 98 per
cent occupancy. Both of those
student buildings cost approx-
imately $33 million, and they
were both delivered on time.
From there, the group turned
their attention to the affordable
housing market. Their interest
was sparked when their presi-
dent, Sunil, ran into Lori Beech,
the Executive Director of Beth-
lehem Housing and Support
Services, a non-profit housing
provider dedicated to provid-
ing stable affordable housing
and support services to those
in need in the Niagara region.
Lori helped educate Sunil about
what was happening – or more
accurately, not happening – in
the sector.
Penn Terra Group decided to
take action, and began looking
at different ways to make an af-
fordable housing project work.
Eventually, they formed a part-
nership with operator Bethle-
hem Housing and Support Ser-
vices and co-operative financier
FirstOntario Credit Union to
deliver a pilot building on 111
Church Street.
JUNE 2019
“We wanted to set up
a lease for 100 years,
but there are laws in
Canada that say you
can’t do that.”