The pandemic might have slowed down a construction project in Sydney but it’s not going to derail it, according to its owner. 

Clayton Bartlett, senior vice-president of DORA Construction in Cape Breton, said the company will still be building two major multi-level apartment buildings on the site of the former Via Rail train station on Dodd Street in Sydney. The only question right now is when. 

“We’re not abandoning it for certain,” Bartlett said. “We want to build it. It’s just not possible to provide a start date yet.” 

At this point, he said they are still in the design phase but the financing is well underway and the plans are still to begin construction this year. 

Bartlett said the pandemic has changed things so much. He said the cost of materials has increased significantly, even doubling in some cases.  

“Things are way out of whack right now,” he said. “Hopefully once this lockdown is lifted we can get back to a semi-normal way.” 

The building will include 84 units, one and two-bedroom apartments and possibly three-bedroom units as well.  

There will also be barrier-free accessible units and commercial tenants on the main floor. 

That will just be a start to the development at this site. There will also be a second building developed.  

“It will be a twin to this one but that’s down the road a couple years,” Bartlett said.  

Following the announcement in November 2017 of the Nova Scotia Community College Marconi campus relocation to downtown Sydney, proposed development projects have cropped up in the community.

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