A loud round of applause from the public bench filled Portage la Prairie city council chambers Monday night after the site of a new 50-unit, $14-million assisted living facility was finalized with the sale of land to Portage Assisted Living Corporation (PAL).

City council approved selling a 3.75 acre lot of serviced land located east of the Portage Clinic and Hospital and south of Dufferin Ave to PAL for $1. The site selection brings the construction of a new assisted living facility one step closer in Portage since work first began by PAL, a non-profit group, in 2012 after MLA Ian Wishart gauged community support on a new facility through a questionnaire.

“The fact that this is the chosen place is a reality,” says PAL co-chair Al Braun. “It's very desirable place. We think it's an excellent place. It's near the resources that people that will be living in that facility will need, like the clinic, the hospital, Douglas Campbell Lodge and the Lions Manor; They're all in that whole area. It's ideally suited for this kind of structure.”

Mayor Irvine Ferris says the development of the new assisted living facility will address a major need in the community.

“We in the past, have lost some of our citizens because we did not have that kind of facility in Portage,” Ferris explains. “We have an aging population. There's going to be a few of us that are going to need that kind of accommodation in the future. This brings us that much closer to it.”

PAL co-chair Vern Crandell says the committee toured several facilities in neighbouring communities across the province including: Winnipeg, MacGregor, Niverville and Steinbach to establish the vision for Portage's facility. The group chose to model after Bridgepark Manor in Steinbach, which started with a 50-suite, three storey facility about five years ago and has since added an additional 50 suites.

Portage Assisted Living Corporation co-chair Vern Crandell speaks at Portage la Prairie city council's meeting Monday, July 10, 2017. (photo by Matt Hermiz)

“We feel that we can do the initial 50 (suites) here and hopefully within five years we'll be looking at the second 50 suites,” Crandell explains. “It's badly, badly needed. You wouldn't believe how many people have asked us on the street, 'when is this coming?' It's going to be full. There is no question.”

In addition to selling serviced land – that administration's report to council explains shouldn't cost the city anything additional because it's located in the area where land is being serviced to broker a development deal with Broadstreet Properties – the city is also providing charitable tax receipts to donors to begin fundraising for the project as PAL waits on the federal government for approval on its charitable status.

“We will be inviting the community to be part of this project in fundraising and we will be looking to the provincial and federal government for assistance as well,” Braun says. “Currently, we're aware that the provincial representatives are meeting with the federal representatives sometime this month to see where the federal government is at with funding for seniors. They have a plan in place that they want roll out for seniors in the very near future.”

“I would think that a project like this would fit in with that kind of mandate very well.”

PAL now needs to complete a development plan for the site and will likely take possession of the lot in the next five to six months. Braun says the hope is construction on the facility can begin in the spring of 2018. The target timeline is to have doors open on the first 50 suites in spring or summer 2019.