One of the biggest challenges most growing communities face is available and affordable housing, and Pembroke and other areas of the Ottawa Valley are certainly no exception.
Modular housing is a popular and often affordable solution to the issue in many cases, and Brian Abdallah is well aware of this fact. As the Vice-Chair of the Ottawa Valley Housing Corporation, Abdallah is working closely with the likes of Ish Theilheimer and an outfit out of Vancouver named Anhart, headed up by Keith Gordon.
Abdallah says a little over a year ago, at Christmas time, he received an email from Gordon, who was actively seeking affordable housing partners in various communities such as Pembroke. Gordon’s goal was to assist in building over 20,000 homes across Canada by 2045, and Abdallah knew that this was going to be a fruitful relationship right off the bat.
One such development already underway is in Barry’s Bay, called Kings Landing, involving 78 units of affordable housing, with construction planned to start in 2027. The Best4Life King’s Landing project includes 36 affordable home ownership opportunities and 42 rental homes on an 18-acre waterfront site on the shore of Lake Kaminiskeg, opposite St. Francis Memorial Hospital. Another project already in the late stages of planning is a development in Cobden, so the Anhart footprint is already here in the Valley.
Chair of the OVHC Ish Theilheimer also fully understands the benefit of partnering with Anhart, especially given the fact that they do not rely on government funding. Theilheimer explains:
One of the most exciting aspects of the partnership, according to both Abdallah and Theilheimer, is the fact that a deal has been made to build a modular house factory right here in Pembroke at the Industrial Park. This factory will assemble modular homes for a myriad of projects in the Ottawa Valley and will extend beyond those borders once it’s fully up and running.
Abdallah says that this is a perfect opportunity for Pembroke to become a hub of sorts for modular builds, and it already has approval from council to proceed, he says:
Keith Gordon, who is the co-founder of the Anhart Global Network, has made a career of identifying lucrative building opportunities right across the country, so partnering with Ish and Brian has been a win-win since they first sat down together.
Anhart is responsible for securing the early-stage impact capital needed to move projects forward, says Gordon, and he goes on to say:
“…The early capital is what allows us to move from concept to momentum. After that, needed capital will come from traditional sources such as credit unions, banks, CMHC, and community bonds.”
While the two main projects are underway in Barry’s Bay and Cobden, Gordon says that there are definite plans for further expansion in the Ottawa Valley:
Abdallah says the plan to build the modular home factory here in Pembroke will have definite economic benefits with respect to new jobs in the region:
More information on the timelines of the factory build and the status of the other projects in the Valley will be shared as it becomes available. For more information on Anhart, please click on the link below.
New developments and factory plan boost Ottawa Valley housing efforts
(Written By: Richard Evans)
