N.S. couple donates 46 acres for an ‘intentional community’ with affordable housing

When Amy Hendricks and Paul Davie moved to Antigonish, N.S., from Yellowknife, they had a bit of a struggle on their hands: finding the right plot of land. 

When Amy Hendricks and Paul Davie moved to Antigonish, N.S., from Yellowknife, they had a bit of a struggle on their hands: finding the right plot of land.

“We thought, how hard could it be?” Davie said. “Then we spent a year or 18 months looking around Antigonish trying to find a place where you feel the click. It needed the right zoning, it needed space for parking.”

Hendricks is an internal medicine doctor who has spent a large part of her practice focused on cardiology. In the Northwest Territories, she covered a lot of ground — millions of acres — to see patients where they were, so she was comfortable working outside of a traditional hospital.

She and Davie decided to build a space where Hendricks could run a medical clinic on the main floor, and have room for their housing on top.

They worked with a Realtor who finally told them about a plot of land just outside of the city.

“It was magical,” Hendricks said, recalling walking onto the property for the first time. Right at the foot of Sugarloaf Mountain, the land was covered in trees, but still within walking distance of the hospital for Hendricks. “It was a no brainer.”

Hendricks and Davie bought the land — all 46 acres of it.

But they quickly decided they didn’t need all that space. “Paul said, can’t you imagine an affordable housing development here?” Hendricks said.