The city currently has just over 35 vacant lots for sale in the Crescent Acres Development. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Residential construction recession

Contracting company asks for money back on city lots

Apr 21, 2020 | 5:20 PM

A Prince Albert-based contracting firm is asking the city for its money back on two lots it entered into agreements to purchase in 2017.

Miller Contracting requested and received two extensions on its commitment to build on the pair of Crescent Acres lots. Now the company says an unprecedented recession in the industry has made development impossible for the time-being.

“The residential construction market has deteriorated to the point that we can no longer see any time in the foreseeable future where we can build on these lots,” the company’s general manager Dan Yungwirth said in a letter addressed to the mayor and council. “Add to this the COVID-19 pandemic, and we anticipate the recovery for single-family detached housing is going to take a very long time.”

Yungwirth told paNOW the city still has title to the lots, even though Miller Contracting paid for them in full. Under city policy, he explained, the lots aren’t released to the buyer until they’ve taken the first steps of building on the land, including digging a basement and getting permits.

“We haven’t done any of that yet so there really shouldn’t be an issue with getting our funds back,” Yungwirth said.

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He explained he still sees reasons for hope in the future, but right now the company needs to conserve as much capital as possible.

“We’re not walking away from Prince Albert by any means. There’s still great opportunity in Prince Albert and we believe in that. It’s just, in our mind, a temporary situation that all of us in the industry find ourselves in,” Yungwirth said.

At Monday night’s executive committee meeting, council referred Miller Contracting’s request to the Planning and Development Services Department.

Speaking to paNOW after the meeting, Mayor Greg Dionne said he would wait for a city report before deciding whether he believed the company should get its money back.

“We could have sold him those lots at a discount. If they were discounted lots, you can’t get your money back,” Dionne said. “I don’t know, so that’s why we sent it for a report.”

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom