Transformation of Williams Lake’s former museum building into the new Jubilee House for individuals with mental illness is almost complete.
Site superintendent Steve Hunter of Kasper Development Corporation told the Tribune Thursday the renovation should be finished at the Fourth Avenue North location by the end of September.
“We got started on Aug. 12, just right after the fires so it’s been a really fast turnaround,” Hunter said. “We will have been in there six weeks by the time we are completely done.”
Hunter described the building as solid, and said because it is 60 years old it needed a major retrofit to bring it up to 2017 building code standards.
“I’m glad the building has been salvaged,” he added.
“It could have been easily demolished, but the fact the new owners decided to keep the building and renovate is huge.”
There are quite a few trades working on the project and at any given time there are as many as 10 people working in the building at one time, Hunter said.
The building has rooms for eight permanent residents, a kitchen on the main floor and another kitchen downstairs in a large basement recreation area for outpatients who visit Jubilee House during the day.
Last fall the City sold the former Cariboo Lodge site, which is adjacent to the museum, to Vantage Living — formerly known as inSite Housing, Hospitality and Health Services — for $10 because the company planned to bid on an Interior Health contract to build a 72-residential care facility in Williams Lake.
Jubilee House was located at the north end of the Cariboo Lodge building and the city still had a lease agreement with Canadian Mental Health Association Cariboo Chilcotin Branch who run Jubilee House.
After looking for a suitable place to move Jubilee House, Vantage determined the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin was the best option.
As a result, the City sold Vantage the museum building and land for $350,000, forcing the museum to move quickly into a the temporary location at Tourism Discovery Centre on Highway 97.
Hunter said demolition of the former Cariboo Lodge is slated to occur at the end of November and he will be the site manager during the construction of the care-bed facility.
It is anticipated that the new facility — Cariboo Place — will be ready for occupancy by the summer of 2018.
Seventy of the beds will be fully funded, while two will be private pay.
Vantage Living president Johann Burger said in a previous interview it is expected the new facility will provide in excess of 80 regular and casual positions for care and hospitality staff.
