Tenants displaced by new Holland College residence have to be out by Sunday

All residential tenants on the corner of Cumberland and Grafton must move out by this Sunday's deadlineto make way for the new Holland College student residence.

"I'm very pleased to say that of the 20 residential units, 19 of those tenants have found other accommodations that are acceptable, suitable for them," said MichaelO'Grady, the vice-president of innovation, enterprise and strategic development at Holland College.

• Holland College offers free rent and more to tenants forced out by residence

The college plans on demolishing seven buildings on that corner, including low-income apartments, a Middle Eastern Restaurant and an Asian grocery store.

There is one remaining residential tenant at this point who the college is actively assisting to find housing.

He explained that most tenants have already been assisted in movingwith support from Holland College staff and students.

Different timeline for commercial tenants

He addedthat the commercial tenants are on a different timeline, and the process is a bit more complex.

"We continue to work closely with them and through our realtors as well to find them suitable accommodations," he said.

He said he expects that it won't be until August until all commercial tenants have been placed in new locations.

"I was always confident that we would reach this stage," O'Gradysaid. "And the college feels very good about the way things have gone thus far."

Getting to this point

The proposal to build the new residence had been met with opposition from the tenants in the buildings and people in the neighbourhood concerned about the loss of housing.

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The rezoning of these buildings for the new college residence got unanimous approval from the Charlottetown council.

"I'd have to say that we had tremendous cooperation over the last couple of months from the tenants involved. And, we are looking forward to getting into the construction phase of the project, and ultimately to providing more accommodations for our students."

• Rezoning for new Holland College residence gets unanimous approval from Charlottetown council

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The new residence would consist of a four-storey building with 81 beds.

After tenants are off the premises in July, Habitat for Humanity will be brought onto the site to salvage usable materials from the building for reuse and re-purposing, explained O'Grady.

The demolition phase will begin in early August.

The residencesshould be fully completedfor September 2018.

• Holland College plans to build new residence

The total cost of the project is estimated at $6.96 million.

The previous owner of the buildings has declined past requests to speak to CBC.

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