New life for former Salvation Army shelter in downtown Sudbury

The former Salvation Army building on Larch Street in downtown Sudbury has a new life.

A private owner has purchased the former men's shelter and plans to open it as a rooming house.

The New Life Centre shelter shut its doors on May 10citing the financial burden of extensive renovations and upgrades to the facility. At the time of its closing, the Salvation Army said approximately 20 men used the shelter.

Paul Charbonneau, president of Sudbury Apartment Rentals Limited, purchased the property last week and said he is now taking applications for 34 existing rooms in the building.

"These people need places to live," Charbonneau said. "There are landlords that are always looking to push these people out, lower income people out, to renovate and make higher rents. I'm quite comfortable at renting it at a rate they can afford."

Charbonneau said he plans to renovate the rest of the building into bachelor units, with an expected completion date of September 1 for the first units.

"Well, I'm a landlord and I know how difficult it is for people to find reasonably priced housing," he said.

"I believe this building is well-suited for that, being in the downtown core close to everything and the layout of the building allows us to create a lot of small units."

Rents will range from $390 to just over $500 per month, and are suitable for low-income earners, Charbonneau said.