First Life Leasing Real Estate Development in Thunder Bay Area
by Scott A. Sumner
James Collie is the Chair of the Board of Pennock Village, overseen by a not-for-profit corporation, an exciting new life leasing development that guarantees a convienient way for senior citizens to budget, live and age worry-free.
Collie has been self employed since 21 years old and part of the Northco Group for a long time which owned Robins. Robins grew under Northco to 250 outlets in Canada. James was in a role of construction and purchasing.
“ We have been working on this piece of property to do this project for 4 years now,” said James. “The uniqueness of this project is it is for people who are 55 plus. Our board gets to control who will buy and live here, so you will know your neighbours and it is done under a life leasing model. Basically what that does is it allows a not-for-profit to oversee and administrate all aspects of the development.”
Pennock are doing a fixed price model so at the end of the day, when you are not able to live independently, you sell your house back to the corporation. It is a bit of estate planning so if something dramatic happens children don't have to administrate any of this as it is written into the contract from day one with the value of the house guaranteed so a certain price, according to James Collie. There are probably about 20,000 people in Ontario that live in life leasing with the vast majority in Southern Ontario and never before in the Thunder Bay area. It is a way to retain seniors in your community.
“We picked the Rosslyn area as I have lived here for 35 years and think it is a great spot to be. It is sorely needed to have people live in a rural setting. Some people stay in their house and then are forced to go to the city. We can cut the grass, shovel the snow, etc which allows a person to stay in place in their community.” noted Collie. “ We are beginning by doing two foundations of duplexes in which there will be four doors. We will also have some villas, which are 5 units and smaller. Also we hope down the road to do two assisted living buildings with some provincial and federal funding.”
“ We hope to complete the initial two duplexes by late 2025 and early 2026. We will continue on from there to meet the demand. People can fill out an application and put down a deposit of $1000.00 which is fully refundable if circumstances require.” said James. The villas will be 2 to 21/2 years away so Pennock Village is a multi year project. They have 28 acres of land and can accommadate 132 people here based on water and sewer capabilities.
