It was just one of those days for Cloverdale’s Mike Garisto. It was raining, cold, a biting wind was lapping at his face while he spoke, but nothing could lower his spirits.
“I feel ecstatic!” Garisto exclaimed after the official groundbreaking ceremony was over for the new seniors’ affordable housing project called Zappone Manor.
Garisto, president & CEO of Columbus Homes has been working on the housing project for more than five years. He held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site March 8.
Mayor Brenda Locke was on hand and gave remarks before the ceremony.
“Projects like these don’t happen easily,” Locke said. “It takes a village to do so many things and a village like Cloverdale always pulls together.”
Locke said the new building will help fill a critical need for seniors in Cloverdale once it’s completed.
She added that housing redevelopments like Zappne Manor are overdue in Surrey.
“We are doing our utmost to make sure (these projects) happen,” she explained. “But once completed, Zappone Manor here will provide safe and stable housing for 89 seniors who won’t be forced to leave this community.”
Locke emphasized that is one thing she feels is often more important than many people recognize.
“Getting to stay in your neighbourhood, in your community, is crucial,” she added. “And we want you to stay there. We want you to be able to do that.”
Mike Starchuk, Surrey-Cloverdale MLA, said Zappone Manor, as an affordable housing redevelopment, is “incredibly welcome” in Cloverdale.
He said he hopes Zappone Manor sets the standard for other projects slated for the area too.
“We held a seniors’ forum at the rec. centre a few months ago and everybody had interest as to how they can stay in Cloverdale,” Starchuk said. “The hope and desire is … that when this one’s built, we can tear down the other ones and build something that’s bigger and more accommodating for the people that are here.”
The overall project is being done in a partnership between the Seniors Citizens Housing of South Surrey Society (SCHSSS) and Columbus Homes, an organization sponsored by the Knights of Columbus councils of greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley in an effort to provide affordable seniors’ housing.
The total cost of the project is about $35 million, including the value of the land (about $11 million), which is being provided by SCHSSS, with Columbus Homes kicking in about $4.7 million, and the Province of B.C. providing $6.2 million. The rest will be coverage by a mortgage.
Garisto said rents will run about 30 to 50 per cent below market rates.
In terms of nuts and bolts of the project, Garisto noted the machinery should be onsite by March 15 and the whole site will soon be fenced off. Work proper should commence the week of March 18.
Although the building permit hasn’t been issued yet, Garistio is confident it’ll be done by mid-July. They currently only have verbal approval for groundsworks to begin (both the foundation and excavation permits), hence the ceremony and the project’s commencement.
“We haven’t got paper in hand for those two [permits] yet, but with verbal we can start,” he noted. “So we’re ready to move. We also have all of our ducks in row for the building permit to come through. It’s just a matter of some final details.”
It’ll take work crews about three months to get the excavating done and foundation finished. So they should be ready to jump all over the construction once the building permit is issued by the city.
“As long as we get it by then, it will be a full greenlight for the project,” Garisto explained. “If we don’t have it by then, then we run into all sorts of issues.”
He said they would have to “de-stage” and then “re-stage” the project, which could cost between $50,000 to $100,000.
He added it’s critical for the project that the excavation and foundation be completed before the fall. Winter rains would delay the project until next year, spring 2025, and it’s already been delayed once. Garisto had hoped to get shovels in the ground in September 2023.
SEE ALSO: Seniors housing project in Cloverdale gets $6.2M funding grant from provincial government
The construction phase of the project will be about 19 months. That makes the official opening of Zappone Manor set for the end of September or beginning of October in 2025.
Garisto said the project is a legacy to and a labour of love for a few individuals.
“For me the three people who’ve passed away—Don Beaton, Mike Cook, and Bruno Zappone—their work has been a labour of love and a legacy of care,” he said. “So it’s exciting for me, as president of Columbus Homes, to see that that legacy is going to continue in a new project and one that will be around for another 60 to 70 years.
“And that’s a really good feeling for me and for everyone involved.”
Zappone Manor, named for lifelong Cloverdalian Bruno Zappone, will be located at 5956 176A Street. Zappone passed away in 2021. He was a longtime volunteer, past Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce president, volunteer firefighter, heritage supporter, member of the Lions Club, and champion of all things Cloverdale.