The Manor

After years of planning and a $4.75 million capital grant from the Provincial Government, the construction on The Manor at Whitecourt Downtown South is officially underway. On Friday, February 5, Greg Christenson, president of the Christenson Group of Companies, alongside Mayor Chichak, Mayor Burrows, MLA Martin Long and Minister of Senior’s and Housing for Alberta Josephine Pon, kicked off the long-awaited project.

The Manor is an urban village for residents to age-in-place rather than forcing them to move away from loved ones to receive care. “We find that there’s a need for couples to stay together. Often, they call it divorce by nursing home. Somebody in a couple will age more rapidly than the other spouse, so, sadly, they are broken up, and one has to go, if not to another building, but sometimes to another community,” explained Greg Christenson. Due to this sad reality, Christenson Group of Companies are focused on creating a building that allows for multiple levels of service under one roof, enabling couples to remain by each other’s side as much as possible.

The project will be built between the highway corridor and the Holiday Inn (see diagram) and will be three levels. “Under the Alberta building code, to integrate care in the building, it has to be three storeys or less. The first two floors will focus on care in affordable studio care apartment units. “Residents will pay $2120 per month, but that includes three meals, weekly housekeeping, laundry, and rec therapy. The other thing is that for buildings that have designated supported living, there is a benefit program available (through the provincial government),” said Christenson. “We call it Supplemental Accommodation Benefits so even low-income seniors can be eligible for roughly $2440 in income.” Once they made their $2120 payment, the program residents would still have $300 leftover in support.

The third floor will be condominium-quality apartment units. “They are either one bedroom plus a den or two bedrooms plus a den with a full balcony.” The theory is that those residents could stay together, and a wife could care for a husband or a husband for a wife, and there’s 24-hour care in the building for when they need that care,” he explained. The building will feature two dining room lounges, a party room, a hair salon and two hospice units. Alberta Health will also fund 50 care units.

Christenson described the urban village idea as a mixture of commercial services and different types of services. “It starts with phase one, but over time it becomes a bit of a plug and play,” he explained. The site plan is viewable at www.cdlhomes.com/communities/whitecourtDowntownSouth and showcases future ideas for more living spaces and commercial opportunities. The goal is to create a community within a community with many services within walking distance of the living areas so residents can enjoy the freedom of shopping and exploring while staying close to home. One of the map’s potential new projects is a Sobeys grocery store.

Minister of Senior’s and Housing for Alberta Josephine Pon was on hand for the virtual celebration and said she was very excited. “The launch of Whitecourt Downtown South marks exciting new beginnings for the town of Whitecourt. I’m confident Whitecourt residents will appreciate this wonderful area for many years to come.”

MLA Martin Long gave a shout out to former MLA and long-time Whitecourt resident George VanderBurg for his dedicated role in this project over the years. “The pandemic has offered many learning opportunities for all of us. One significant lesson throughout the pandemic has been the need to improve our treatment of seniors. Improvements start by acknowledging there’s an issue and then investigating ways to address the issue head-on. For seniors, a large part of improving treatment starts by having the housing and infrastructure in place. Under Minister Pon’s leadership, our government organized the Affordable Housing Review Panel last summer to uncover possibilities of how to make housing more affordable for groups like seniors. I’m proud and encouraged to know that others also recognize the need to improve the treatment of seniors. This development in Whitecourt is an important part in achieving that.”

Mayor Maryann Chichak could barely contain her joy. “It’s exciting to think that very shortly we are going to see an actual building take shape! With the ground-breaking of this project, this facility is going to help us achieve our goal of allowing residents to age in place. It will not only positively impact the quality of life for our senior demographic but also their friends and loved ones that live here.” She said that the economic spin-offs would be great. “This is going to drastically change the landscape of our downtown area and bring many more opportunities to our community.”

Mayor Chichak said that the town’s planning and development staff have consistently been engaged with Dr. Karen Lee (Housing for Health) to help create design and programming that brings healthy living principles and enhanced walkability. She spoke of building walking trails that link to the area and benches and bike trails. “We have a fantastic community with walking trails, but we have to make sure we integrate it with this project to make sure that the seniors that do retire in our community and stay here will have the ability to stay fit and to make sure we have amenities available to them to keep them not only physically healthy but mentally healthy as well.”

Mayor John Burrows said he is proud to see the investment. “Being able to stay close to loved ones and families is a really huge importance in that comfort. We look forward to this new chapter.”

Christenson hopes that the first phase of the project triggers other projects to start in the area in anticipation of the activity to come. Future steps include bungalow-type homes situated in a living area walking distance from the main building that would still receive care and another condominium-style building with more living spaces called The Muse.

The approximate timeline for opening day is late spring, early summer of 2022, approximately 16 months. Activity at the site right now includes screw piles to prepare for the foundation. The building will have the highest standard sprinklers, feature a two-hour firewall, and more expansive halls and stairwells, among other safety measures. The building will currently feature only rental units, but future buildings could be life-lease. If anyone has questions about the project, they can email whitecourt@cdlhomes.com.