Open house for potential tenants of new apartment building

By Ron Giofu

A new apartment building had one of its units opened for public tours last week.

Those who have already signed leases or reserved a unit in the River’s Edge apartment building were invited to view a model suite last Tuesday night. While most of the building remains under construction, a ground floor unit was finished and shown to future residents and was accessed through an entrance off of the exterior of the building along Brunner Ave.

“It’s a great turnout,” said Danielle Grenier, sales and marketing manager for Piroli Group Developments. “Sixty-two people RSVP’d.”

Those who have already made a commitment to a unit got a first look at the two-bedroom model unit. Grenier pointed out it opened to the public starting last Thursday. The unit, dubbed the “Grand Oak” unit style, is open by appointment only.

As of last Tuesday, Grenier said 50 leases were signed with six more units on hold. The speed in which the units are filling is something the company is pleased with, Grenier indicated. There are 114 units in the building, with an outdoor salt water pool also planned.

“That is a new record for our company,” she stated.

Occupancy of River’s Edge apartments is anticipated for Oct. 1, she said.

Units range from $1,400 per month to $3,250 per month depending on size, style and placement in the building. There are 14 different suite styles with one and two-bedroom apartments on site.

Grenier said the majority of people who came to last Tuesday evening’s open house were from the Amherstburg area though some came from around Windsor-Essex County. There were some tenants coming in from as far as Sarnia, she added.

A second phase, a similar six-storey building, is proposed next door along Sandwich St. North to the existing River’s Edge apartments. Grenier said if all goes according to plan, occupancy of that building could come in Oct. 2024 but that is not confirmed as of yet.

“We should know more about phase two later this year,” said Grenier.

March Break activities keep visitors to Fort Malden NHS busy

By Ron Giofu

Fort Malden National Historic Site of Canada brought back its March Break programming and reports it was a hit with area students.

Youth programming was held at Fort Malden each weekday last week with different activities Monday through Friday. Interpretation officer Alex Dale said it was the first time March Break programs were presented there since 2018 and they were pleased with it.

“It took off this year,” said Dale. “We’ve had about 20 per day. It’s been good.”

Dale said he wasn’t sure why Fort Malden didn’t present March Break programming in 2019 but they couldn’t host it from 2020-22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He indicated that staff were happy to bring it back this year.

“This is a resurgence for us. We’re getting back into doing this kind of stuff,” said Dale.

Students performed a variety of different activities during the week, including making model boats and forts, cooking, model soldier painting, watching musket firings, listening to period music, taking tours as well as walking down to the Commissariat in King’s Navy Yard Park to learn about that building.

Many of the students came from the Windsor area, he added, as some have relatives that live in Amherstburg. There were also some local students and others from