A develop plan submitted to the Town of La Ronge. (Town of La Ronge)

By Derek Cornet

housing shortage

Developer could build 62-unit apartment complex in 2026

Dec 11, 2025 | 4:47 PM

A new four-storey, 62-unit apartment building could soon be built in La Ronge.

Town administration has been in discussions with Prince Albert-based PG Brar Investments Inc., which has shown a willingness to develop a large housing project in the community. To move forward with the project, the municipality would enter into an agreement of purchase and sale with PG Brar with several concessions and stipulations.

For instance, the town would sell 2.5 acres of land (valued at approximately $53,000) along Bedford Drive for $1, as well as provide a five-year tax abatement and a cash incentive as per its Housing Incentive Program Policy. In this case, the town would pay PG Brar $930,000 which would come from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund.

In return, PG Brar would have two years to complete the development and obtain a certificate of occupancy for the apartment building. The building itself would consist of a mixture of dwelling unit configurations including six one bedroom, eight one bedroom plus den, 40 two bedroom, and eight two bedroom plus den units.

Coun. Melissa McNeil said it’s been a struggle for the town to find a developer with deep enough pockets to invest in such a large housing project.

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“Nobody has taken an interest so far in building these type of units that we need,” she said.

“There might be a little bit of give and take. I think this is fair considering the amount he is investing potentially to come up here. For that amount, it’s more of a benefit to have housing here.”

The apartment building would cost approximately $7 million to build and construction could begin as soon as spring 2026. PG Brar has already indicated constructing such a large project likely costs about 20 to 30 per cent more in La Ronge than in southern Saskatchewan. This is largely due to the distance needed to transport building supplies and to mobilize its workforce, as well as its contractors, to undertake construction.

“To date, the town has been working in partnership with PG Brar on preparing the subject property for development,” a document prepared from administration states.

“This is a 50/50 cost sharing initiative that involves the clearing of vegetation on the subject property, removal of organic material (peat) and replacement of the peat with fill from material the town received at no cost from Potzus Construction as part of the Highway 102 rebuild project. The expected cost for this work is estimated at $155,000. Should the apartment development project not proceed, the town would be left with an improved future development site at half the cost.”

La Ronge council adopted a Residential Development Strategy in January 2025 that they hope will realize the construction of 150 new residential units over the next three to five years. Housing development is currently the top priority for town council.

In order to assist PG Brar with gauging the level of demand in the region for the above described rental units, residents are asked to complete a survey which can be found online here.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com