New affordable housing project will replace Whitehorse's Ryder Apartment building

A new affordable housing project has gone to tender in Whitehorse.

The new structure will be built downtown where the Ryder Apartmentbuildingcurrently standson Sixth Avenue. Those apartments owned by the Yukon Housing Corporation were built in 1977 andhave since fallen into disrepair.

"A lot of the building systems were in need of major upgrades and renovations," said Lester Balsillie, director of capital development and maintenance with Yukon Housing.

"The plumbing and mechanical systems, the fire alarm system, the intercom system and just the wiring and general condition of the building, the energy efficiency. Our initial internal estimates to do all that work were quite substantial."

Balsillie and his team determined that it wasn't worth that cost to update the existing 24-unit structure. He sees potential for more density and drastic change on the downtown lot.

"We can fit just about twice as many units with our projected new development than was on the site previously," said Balsillie.

The demolition of the Ryder Apartment building won't happen all at once. The building contains asbestos, which means dismantling the structure safely will require weeks of careful effort.

The Government of Yukon has awarded $515,000 to Castle Rock Enterprises to complete that work. The companyis owned by Dakwakada Capital Investments, the business arm of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.

Ahead of this work, former Ryder Apartment tenants were relocated to other Yukon Housing Corporation-owned multi- and single-family units.

Laura Lang is director of policy and communications for Yukon Housing. She said the new buildingwill allow more Whitehorse residents to access affordable housing.

The building will be designed to accommodaterent-geared-to-income tenants, the government said.

"This is a great example of Yukon Housing Corporation working to maximize the assets we have that can be better used to support Yukoners," she said. "This new stock coming online will be delivering on exactly that. So it really is a terrific new story."

The Yukon Housing Corporation hopes tenants will be able to move into the new building by fall 2026.