The construction of a new waterfront development on Owen Sound’s East Bayshore Road is officially underway.
Skyline has been approved for eight buildings there eventually, (712 rental units) but phase one starts with three apartment buildings overlooking the water on the northeast side of the harbour.
SkyDev President Greg Jones says they’ll be six-storey buildings with 89 apartments in each of them. Two bedroom, two bath, at about 950 st ft, or one bedroom at about 750 sq ft. with luxury finishes like stainless steel appliances and quartz countertops. Rental rates for units will vary with water view units priced at a premium, and lower rates for others.
The development will connect to walking trails, have a clubhouse amenity building with a fitness centre, and there are plans for outdoor pickleball courts and fire pits. Skyline also has bee hives on the roofs of its buildings.
Jones says, “Our primary demographic is aging populations in Ontario and people over the age of 55 who don’t want to move to a retirement home anytime soon they want their independence until they’re well into their 90s and they can rent an apartment building here, have views of the water have great amenities, have elevator access to their apartment– sell their home and rent.”
Skyline CEO Jason Castellan says the idea to develop in Owen Sound came after they received a letter in 2021 from the City, saying it was development ready, and had some properties with access to site servicing that could support development.
Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy says the idea came to him after seeing a nearby community struggle to attract development because of limited water system capacity. Owen Sound’s population had not been growing from 2011 to 2016 and out of that, came the idea of sending a letter to developers saying there were properties within the city that were ‘development ready.’
“We sent out a letter to anybody that owned vacant land or anybody that owned rental apartments and developments and had already developed that would have an interest in developing in Owen Sound and got a phone call within a couple of days from Skyline saying they’re interested, they want to build up here but they need land and we were able to put them together with somebody for the land and within weeks it fell into place.”
Skyline CEO Jason Castellan grew up in Walkerton, graduated from St. Mary’s High School and played hockey for the Owen Sound Greys. He said at the groundbreaking, admiring the view of the water, “When the opportunity came to look at real estate here, this is definitely the place where we want to be. I can’t believe it took this long for a property like this to be realized upon. This is beautiful and these are going to be wonderful homes for a lot of people that are here. It’s a lot of fun for us to work with places that want to work with us.”
Castellan noted he hears from Skyline President Greg Jones about the ease of working with the city, that everyone is ‘moving in the same direction’, adding, “It is not that way across the country,” calling Owen Sound special. He adds, Skyline looks to do more business in the city if it’s available.
Jones says construction will continue into the winter. Each building is expected to take about 18 months to build and construction of each of them will be about six months apart from each other. He says people will be able to move in about 18 to 20 months from now.
Mayor Ian Boddy says there is a market in the city for rental housing and apartments as the post-WWII baby boomers look to downsize their homes.
He notes, a development of this scale, alongside other recent developments hasn’t been common over the past few decades, noting, “There’s been one apartment building here and there, but not three together —eventually eight in total being built. We haven’t had the investment in our community when you look at all the commercial investment, residential investment etc that we’ve had in the last couple of years— we haven’t had that for 40 years.”
Work begins with demolition of the old footings of the former RCA factory, grinding up the concrete, turning into gravel and reusing it for parking lots and roads, followed by the installation of new footings and then precast panels and roof will go up over the next handful of months.
Breaking ground in Owen Sound!
Today marks the start of construction on a landmark housing development at 3195 East Bayshore Road. Once home to the historic RCA factory, this site is being transformed into a vibrant new waterfront community.
For more info: https://t.co/249sA6Npwn pic.twitter.com/t8ohMu9e0F— City of Owen Sound (@CityOwenSound) August 21, 2025