L-R Skyline CEO Jason Castellan, SkyDev President Greg Jones, Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy
Owen Sound is enjoying a development boom not seen in the city for decades.
That’s according to city building department statistics presented to council at Monday’s meeting. City Manager Tim Simmonds says total construction value year-to-date is over $214-million, easily the highest figure the city has seen since the turn of the century.
“As far as we can tell going back to at least 2001, the closest year in construction value was about $72-million in 2010 … with the Julie McArthur Regional Recreation Centre,” Simmonds explains. “And (this year’s) numbers don’t … have a large public project within them. This is mostly residential construction and additional commercial construction.”
Simmonds says the city has issued more than 264 building permits year-to-date and collected over $900,000 in building permit fees.
Several major commercial and residential projects in Owen Sound have commenced. SkyDev started construction this summer on the first phase of its eight-building apartment complex on East Bayshore Road, at a property that was once home to an RCA factory. SkyDev is planning to building more than 700 units.
Another long vacant former industrial property, the Black Clawson Kennedy lot on 1st Avenue West near the Owen Sound Harbour, also has residential development plans moving ahead. Site preparation work has begun for the first phase of construction of what will eventually be a six-building apartment complex, with more than 220 units.
And work resumed on a long-stalled apartment development project on 18th Street East — across from the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre. It will bring 30 life-lease units to market when its completed.
A building department update presented to the city’s community services committee earlier this month says permits have been issued for more than 550 new residential units in Owen Sound this year, nearly all of those apartments or condo units. That’s more than 10 times the number of residential units the city reported throughout all of 2024 (51 units).
“We’ve talked a lot about growth and this really speaks to staff that are working together to bring a culture of ‘get to yes’ to move things along and get construction going on in the city,” Simmonds says. “I know this council, Mayor Boddy, for years have talked about putting the right ingredients for the recipe to get growth here in the city. And it’s really all coming to fruition right now.”
It’s been a busy year for commercial development in the city’s east end as well. Expansion has continued at the Heritage Grove Shopping Centre, with the addition of a new FreshCo store. New commercial units are also being built for larger retail spaces for Princess Auto and PetSmart, which will allow Winners and HomeSense to expand their existing footprints, a release from city hall says.
Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy credited city staff for streamlining approvals and ensuring developers know the city wants growth. He shared an anecdote of a recent interaction with representatives from SkyDev, the company building 700-plus apartment units on East Bayshore Road.
“They talked about how great it is working with staff at the city to ‘get to yes’ and move things forward,” Boddy says. “They actually quit moving ahead on something in Guelph, and another one down in that area, to move ahead (in Owen Sound). Because they’re getting progress from staff more rapidly up here. So, that’s all important.”