Developer turning St. Stephen motel rooms into affordable housing units

An aging motel in downtown St. Stephen is being converted into affordable apartments.

Developer Greg Hooper recently bought the St. Stephen Inn and has already started renovating the building to make space for apartments in a town he says desperately needs them. 

"We have a lot of work here, but we don't have a lot of accommodations to live," Hooper said. "There's no rents available anymore, so we thought we could really help the community out by doing this project. 

Hooper's project began after years of driving by the property and imagining its purchase and renovation.

Hammering out the purchasing agreement took a couple of years, but once completed it netted him 51 motel units across two buildings.

One of those buildings will remain a motel, while the other is being gutted to make room for 14 apartment units that will be targeted toward affordable living. 

"There's lot of jobs here, if we can find workers," said Hooper, listing off larger employers such as Cooke Aquaculture, Connors Bros. Ltd., and the Ganong Bros. "We're bringing workers from outside Charlotte County, but when they get here there's no places to live.  

"So, we're hoping we can help solve the problem a little bit right here," said Hooper. 

The former St. Stephen Inn is being transformed into 14 affordable housing units

3 years ago

Duration 1:43

Developer Greg Hooper recently purchased the St. Stephen Inn and is renovating the building to create apartments in a town he says desperately needs them.

The plan is to knock out a few walls and effectively turn two adjoining motel rooms into single-bedroom and double- bedroom apartments. 

As construction begins, energy efficiency is a key goal, Hooper said. Heat pumps are planned for each unit. 

"We're going to be putting new windows in, framing up the fronts and making them more energy-efficient, wrapping the building with high-efficiency insulation," said David Armstrong, the project manager. 

It is not yet decided whether the cost of electricity will be included in the rent, or what the monthly rent will be, but $850 is the number currently being considered. 

"A brand-spanking-new apartment, energy-efficient apartment, I would think would be worth $850 a month," said Armstrong. 

Rent not as affordable as it can be

St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern said the town has been working with the developers to get through the red tape and compile vacancy numbers to prove to investors the demand exists. He said that late last year, the vacancy rate was 0.3 per cent, showing a real need for housing. 

MacEachern said it's difficult for developers to bring rent down below $800 because of the cost of building and maintenance.

"Is 800 affordable to people? No, it's not. But it's all we can do," he said. "Something else has to happen to bring that number down or bring the income earners' number up."

Armstrong said the goal is to open up the building to tenants in the new year, but supply constraints are an unknown variable.  

"The challenge is getting materials right now," Armstrong said. "We were really hoping Jan. 1 we could get these 14 finished, but it all depends on the delivery of materials.