Luxury, eco-friendly design comes to town: Southern Ontario developer bringing modern style to Sudbury apartments.

• Author: Myers, Ella
• Position: DESIGN-BUILD

The apartment and condo options for Sudburians are about to get a bit more posh.

Southern Ontario's Panoramic Properties is finishing work on two new apartment buildings this fall, and is steadily progressing on the transformation of the former St. Joseph's Hospital into a habitable space.

Established in 1995 and based in Niagara Falls, the developer has taken on many properties in Northern Ontario in recent years.

The two projects nearing completion include a complex in Sudbury's south end at 1310 Nesbitt and one in the old Ecole St-Denis on Regent.

"It's been a great opportunity for Panoramic to expand on their modern, urban apartment units," said Michael Allen, their architect working on the Sudbury properties. "We wanted to establish luxury units because we felt it was something Sudbury was lacking."

The hospital conversion is the largest and most visible project that Panoramic is working on at the moment. Allen said the approximately 200-unit condo building will be a combination of modern amenities and classic aesthetics. He anticipates the project will take two to three years to complete.

There will be a new, eight-story tower added to the site on the south side of the existing building, with three floors of parking underneath.

Nearly 50 per cent of the 4.5-acre property is dedicated to green space and landscaping. Balconies and rooftop gardens will add even more greenery to the building.

Allen said that in terms of external design, Panoramic is maintaining the character of the building in relation to the neighbourhood for the hospital project, and even more so with the Ecole St-Denis project.

"It'll be very suitable for the area," said Allen. "We were working with a neighbourhood and didn't want to put too modern a building in it."

The 65-unit Ecole St-Denis apartments feature a stone stucco to blend in with the surrounding houses. Allen anticipates it will start to fill up over the fall as partial occupancy starts in October.

While the hospital and Ecole St-Denis are projects using existing infrastructure, the Nesbitt properties involved building three new structures from scratch. Allen said, "the looks of the buildings are totally different."

Panoramic purchased apartments at Nesbitt around four years ago. The...