DSSAB to expand

A new city administration building plans to expand before it’s even done being built.

The District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administrative Board building, currently under construction on the corner of Brodie Street and Arthur Street, needs to expand its third floor because of staffing increases.

Programs, such as a homelessness initiative for the district, were delegated to the board by the province after the building was designed.

Board chair Iain Angus said while DSSAB is still working out how much of a staff increase the board needs, the third floor expansion is necessary. The third floor of the 54,000-sq. ft. building was only one-third of the top floor with patio area on either side.

Those areas will now be converted to cover the entire footprint of the building if final funding is approved in September.

Angus said even with the new contract, the building will still be on budget, pegged at a total cost of $13.5 million.

"We’re still going to be within that mandate with the expansion of the third floor," Angus said.

The new contract will be awarded in January, when the rest of the building is expected to be completed. The partial third floor was added to the design to accommodate staff from the Thunder Bay District Housing Corporation.

"We’ve added that already and now we’re adding some more," he said.

While there are preliminary costs for the expansion, the board doesn’t want the figure to be public until after the contract is awarded so that tenders from contractors aren’t just matched with the expansion budget.

"We have to be careful that way," Angus said.