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suppliers, and getting the best
possible cost without sacrificing
on quality. He’s been excellent.”
Finally, John also credits the
municipality of St. Catharines –
Penn Terra Group has formed
an exceptionally close rela-
tionship with them going back
to their first condo project in
the city. John and his partners
made it a point then to be
flexible and collaborative, and
to break the ‘us versus them’
mould that typically dominates
city-developer relationships.
“Them versus us is not how we
work,” John says. “We’re here to
resolve issues and to compro-
mise. We’re not here to stomp
out feet and demand we get ev-
erything we want.”
Recently, Penn Terra Group has
been approached by a number
of municipalities across Ontar-
io to bring similar affordable
housing projects to their cities.
John believes those doors have
opened as a result of the re-
lationships they formed in St.
Catharines.
Moving forward, John hopes to
form similar relationships with
other city partners – both in
Ontario and beyond.
When it comes to beyond, the
company has recently acquired
land in Niagara Falls, New York,
where they intend to develop a
small student apartment rental
building similar to the two they
delivered in St. Catharines. In
Ontario, meanwhile, they have
identified at least three more
opportunities for affordable
housing projects that John says
they are “very close to pulling
the trigger on.”
Penn Terra Group does not
want to be the only developer
pursuing those opportunities,
however. They hope that their
success can inspire others to
do their own part to help meet
the desperate need for afford-
able housing across Canada.
“We’re not trying to be the only
developer here doing afford-
able housing on a larger scale,”
John says. “We would welcome
any other developer to open
their eyes and see that these
opportunities exist. It takes a
lot of hard work, but there are
ways to confront these chal-
lenges and come up with solu-
tions that benefit everyone.”