Ontario Construction News staff writer
A significant healthcare project aimed at assisting Inuit patients in the capital has come to a standstill as Larga Baffin Ltd. announces that its proposed six-storey expansion in south Ottawa is currently on hold indefinitely.
The company, which offers medical boarding for residents of Nunavut’s Qikiqtani (Baffin) region, has officially pulled its building permit application for the site located at 1470 Hunt Club Rd. extending to Sievright Ave. This decision follows a collapse in negotiations over long-term service contracts with the Government of Nunavut (GN).
In a project update shared on March 2, Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Jessica Bradley informed local residents that the Larga Baffin team is “adjusting their construction timelines” due to ongoing uncertainty.
“Based on their updated planning, it now appears unlikely that construction will begin as originally scheduled this year or within the next one to two years,” Bradley stated. “Given these revised timelines, the organization has chosen to pause construction activities.”
The hold-up stems from a financial deadlock between the territorial government and Indigenous Services Canada at the federal level.
Anne Curley, chairperson of Larga Baffin Ltd., told that although they are prepared to invest and secure debt financing, they can’t move forward without a firm, long-term commitment from the GN.
“Until this is resolved, and a contract awarded, all plans for a new facility in Ottawa, regardless of location, are on hold,” Curley said.
The planned 220-room facility was meant to accommodate up to 350 guests, nearly doubling the capacity of the existing 195-bed site on Richmond Road. For those in Ottawa’s construction industry, this pause represents a notable loss of potential work; recently, the project had cleared its final regulatory hurdles including a dismissal of neighborhood appeals by the Ontario Land Tribunal and received formal site plan approval in November 2024.
The Government of Nunavut’s Department of Health confirmed it does not have any agreement for services with Larga Baffin past March 2028.
“While discussions continue, the Government of Nunavut is not currently involved in the construction of Larga Baffin’s proposed Ottawa facility,” said Charmaine Deogracias, communications manager for Nunavut’s Department of Health.
The project’s site plan approval remains valid until Nov. 6, 2027. If funding issues aren’t sorted out by then, developers might need to restart the municipal approval process entirely.
Source link
Source link
